Relationship Things
by ExtremeSaucicity
Summary: AU. Sequel to Christmas Things. It doesn't take long for Austin and Ally to get together. And with the new year approaching, they're pretty excited to spend it with each other, as a shiny new couple.
1. Waffle Girl and Pancake Guy

Here it is, folks, the sequel to Christmas Things. I'm pretty excited and nervous. Excited because I get to write in this universe again. Nervous because I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations. Well, those of you who were looking forward to a sequel, anyway.

Fair warning, I don't have 35,000+ words written ahead of time like I did with Christmas Things, so don't be expecting a weekly update.

For those of you who haven't read it, you might want to, just to be completely caught up since I do plan on referencing it a lot in this sequel.

Like usual, you can thank Teresa and Miss-Rainy-Skies. They managed to convince me that a sequel wouldn't be too terribly bad of an idea.

* * *

Ally Dawson had three days; three, blissful days, to have Austin Moon all to herself.

Three days of cuddling together on the couch, watching classic movies she owned at her place or newer stuff on Netflix at his. Three days of cooking meals together in either his cramped kitchen or hers. Three days of lying next to each other, staying up late to have long, intimate conversations until he finally made her go to sleep so she could wake up to open Sonic Boom in the mornings.

Ah. Three, blissful days, indeed.

* * *

She slowly comes out of her dream state to the gentle nuzzling of a nose against her neck and whispered murmurs telling her to wake up. Her eyelids flutter, but never fully open, and she hums happily at the warmth and weight close to her side. A heavy arm is draped across her midsection and she finds his hand to lace their fingers together. She wiggles closer to the muscular body and yawns, still not fully awake.

"We should make breakfast," Austin suggests groggily against her neck.

Ally laughs, partly from his comment and partly from his breath tickling her. "You really want to get out of bed right now?"

"... No."

She smiles to herself. "Neither do I."

Her free hand moves back and forth against his arm, fingernails dragging lightly along his skin. His forearm flexes from the initial touch and Ally feels goosebumps in the wake of her fingertips. Austin sighs and pulls away from her neck to properly look at her. She giggles and turns her head to face him as well.

"Good morning," she whispers with a soft smile.

"Morning," he murmurs back, grinning lazily at her.

This is the fourth morning she's woken up to his lazy, sleepy grin and it still makes her weak in the knees. It's a good thing, she realizes, that she's already lying down in bed.

"What time is it?" she finally asks, secretly dreading the moment she'll have to leave for work.

He groans. "Too early," he mutters, eyes drifting shut.

"You're the one that woke me up," she reminds him as she raises an eyebrow.

"I have my reasons," he says mysteriously as he leans in close to nuzzle her neck. "Ow!" He's stopped from moving forward any further by her small hand smacking him in the face. His head quickly snaps back and his free hand reaches up to rub at his nose.

Ally frowns suspiciously at him. "What reasons?" She turns around to check the alarm clock on her bedside table. It's currently 6:45 in the morning. She shoots up into a sitting position and his arm that was previously wrapped around her midsection falls into her lap with an audible plop. His fingers wiggle sadly from her hand disentangling itself from his. "Austin!" she whines, glaring at him. "It's not even 7:00 yet! I was wondering why I hadn't heard the alarm..."

This is particularly upsetting because her alarm is set for 7:30.

Austin gives her a sheepish look. "I wanted Austin and Ally time..."

She doesn't relax and her glare hardens. "You couldn't wait until I got off work at nine? Like usual?"

He rolls his eyes. "Not tonight, remember? You're meeting your friends at the airport right around 9:30, so you'll be home later than usual." He says it with a tone of understanding, but she sees the disappointment in his eyes, no matter how subtle it is.

Ally blinks at him, his words sinking in. "Oh," she manages weakly as she finally relaxes. "I forgot." Guilt immediately sets in as her best friend's face flashes in her mind's eye, accompanied with her redheaded boyfriend. She looks appropriately remorseful, both from her accusatory tone with Austin and forgetting about her best friends. "I'm sorry," she apologizes. She runs a hand through her hair and sighs. "But did you really have to wake me up so early? I don't have to open the store until ten, you know..." she points out tiredly.

"Fine," he sniffs disdainfully. "We'll just go back to bed," he pouts. And then he promptly flips over onto his other side, facing away from her. "I only wanted to spend this morning with you..." he grumbles under his breath, curling up into a ball. A hand reaches behind him for the covers and he pulls the blanket over his head.

Her hand reaches out for him, but—as if sensing it—he shuffles away from her and closer to the edge of the bed. She draws back her hand and stifles a laugh at his childish antics. "Austin." A giggle escapes, anyhow. "You're being ridiculous."

Fake snoring comes from the heap of immaturity on her bed.

She rolls her eyes and lies back down. She moves closer to him. "Auuustiiin," she sing-songs.

The fake snoring grows louder in volume.

"Oh, c'mon!" she laughs. She throws an arm and a leg around his bundled up body, effectively becoming the bigger spoon.

"Umpf!" he grunts as his head pops out from underneath her covers. He turns slightly to see her chin resting on his shoulder as she looks down at him with a bemused smile. "I thought you wanted to go back to bed?" he asks dryly.

She gives a one-shouldered shrug and points out, "Well, I'm up _now_."

He looks up at her with hopeful eyes. "So Austin and Ally time?" he whispers with baited breath.

Ally bites her bottom lip and shakes her head due to his eerie resemblance to a puppy. She leans down and kisses the tip of his nose briefly. "Yes," she replies as she pulls back with a laugh. "We can have Austin and Ally time."

He lights up with excitement. "Let's go brush our teeth and go back to bed."

She blinks and her eyebrows furrow. "You... woke me up to go back to bed?" she asks tonelessly.

"I just want cuddles and kisses," he whines. His tongue runs along the top front row of his teeth and he pulls a face. "But I'm getting a serious case of the teeth fuzzies, here..."

She face plants, her forehead smacking against his shoulder. "Oh my God," she mumbles under her breath.

"What?" he asks innocently. "I happen to think it's awfully gentlemanly of me to want to brush my teeth before bestowing kisses upon your lovely lips."

"That's not it," she sighs against his shoulder. She brings her head back up to fix him with a flat stare. "I didn't realize you'd be so clingy," she muses out loud. A corner of her lips quirks upwards into a half-smile.

He rolls over, forcing her to slid off him. "I am _not_ clingy," he snorts as an arm wraps protectively around her. His fingers slip under the hem of her t-shirt—an old White Stripes tee—and dance along the smooth porcelain skin of her hip.

She shivers at the touch and moves closer into his embrace. Her nose hits his chest and she inhales deeply. "Well, _I'm _definitely not the clingy one," she mutters.

Neither of them claim to be clingy and yet, there they lay, clinging desperately to each other.

His chin rests on the top of her head and his hand has slipped all the way under her shirt now, tracing lazy patterns on her lower back. "We're both equally clingy?" he tries.

Ally gives a snort of laughter. "Let's just get up and brush our teeth."

"And then bed again?"

"And then bed again," she repeats in an exaggeratedly tired and exasperated voice.

But there's a smile tugging at her lips as Austin pulls her out of bed with him.

* * *

Ally finally managed to convince Austin to get up after a few more minutes of rolling around in bed, but it was largely due to his stomach refusing, absolutely _refusing_, to shut up. He'd protested, argued that he actually wasn't that hungry, but after hearing far too many angry gurgles from his stomach, she'd pointed out that really, it was ruining the mood.

So now he's making pancakes in her kitchen and she's sitting at her tiny table, chin resting in the palm of her hand as she watches him flip a pancake with ease.

"You don't always have to make me breakfast, you know," she says half-heartedly. "I know how to cook."

He stops his cheery whistling and swivels his head to look at her over his shoulder. "Breakfast foods are the only things I can make with the expertise of a well-seasoned chef, okay? Anything else is just... hopefully edible," he says with a nonchalant shrug. He turns around to face her fully, points the spatula he's holding right at her. "Don't take this one thing away from me," he says in a warning tone.

She laughs. "I was wondering why you only ever seem eager to make breakfast."

He turns back to the pancakes. They're ready, so he moves them to the plate. He pours more batter into the pan. Ally watches him flip the second batch and moves to get up. "What kind of juice—?"

"Don't move!" The hand holding the spatula shoots up, and she freezes in an awkward squatting position a few inches above her seat. "Sit back down," he orders without turning around.

"Um. Okay." Ally slowly eases back into her seat.

He walks over to the fridge, grabbing two mugs along the way, and opens the metal door, peering inside. "What kind of juice?" he asks.

"Orange."

He smiles, pleased with her answer. The other two choices in her fridge were grapefruit—yuck—and cranberry—double yuck. He pours some into both mugs and quickly stalks over to the table to drop them off. She shoots him a grateful smile and immediately picks the one with less juice to take a long sip.

By the time he runs back to the stove, the current batch is done. He moves them to a second plate and while he knows that two pancakes won't fill him up, he'd rather sit down and eat with Ally before making himself some more. With both plates in hand, he walks back to the table, joining her for their breakfast.

"Let's be honest, my pancakes are awesome," he boasts as he watches her eye them hungrily.

"They're not bad, but I think four mornings in a row is enough." She shrugs as she moves to drench them in syrup. "Maybe we could do waffles, sometime? I know I have a waffle iron lying around somewhere..."

Austin gasps, clearly insulted. "Shush your perfect lips, Allison Victoria Dawson!"

"Still not my middle name," she automatically replies before cutting into her pancakes and taking a bite.

"I said shush them!"

She pauses mid-chew, gives him an odd look, but doesn't say another word. She slowly works her jaw again as she waits for him to go on.

"Pancakes," he begins in a low, reverent tone, "are the best thing to have ever been invented. They are, in point of fact, little golden halos of fluffy perfection. When you bite into them, how can you not savor the taste? Not admire the feathery light texture? But that? That is merely the beginning." At this point, both of his hands are placed on the table and he's leaning in toward her, staring her down, willing her to believe his near-poetic praise of preferred choice of breakfast.

She stares at him in a confused sort of awe. Her eyes dart down to her pancakes, drooping slightly due to having been soaked in the heavy maple syrup, and back up to meet Austin's brown eyes. "Is it?" she muses carefully with slightly creased eyebrows.

He nods solemnly at her. "A classic, regular pancake can make a grown man moan with the pleasure that should only be reserved for the bedroom—"

"Is this grown man even _eating _said pancake?" she asks dryly as her eyebrows shoot up. "And please don't tell me that you're speaking from experience, here."

Austin rolls his eyes. "Ally, are you going to interrupt with snarky commentary belittling the great love between a man and his pancakes or are you going to let me educate you on them?"

"We can't do both?"

"To continue from my last point, you start with the—"

"Your pancakes are getting cold," she interjects innocently.

"Basically, in short, you can add awesome shit like fruit or chocolate or whatever else you want. Okay, class dismissed." The flurry of words leave his mouth in a hurried manner and he lunges for the bottle of maple syrup. His eyes light up in childish glee as he squeezes random patterns and swirls all over his pancakes, effectively drowning them within seconds.

The pancakes may have gotten old on this fourth morning, but she's pretty sure that watching him dig into them with the enthusiasm of a five-year old kid will never get old.

He throws his head back as he takes his first bite, eyes closing in pure ecstasy as he savors the taste of his favorite food on this planet. A low moan emits from the back of his throat.

Ally coughs and looks away with a mild blush. She'd forgotten about the exaggerated noises of an almost sexual nature.

She still marvels at the fact that he can go from some sort of adorable man-child to an incredible sex god in the blink of an eye.

Another moan escapes his throat and his eyes are now closed.

Less than the blink of an eye, really.

"I've always been a waffle girl, myself," she comments lightly after his moaning stops.

Her confession makes him choke on his delicious pancakes. He takes a moment to pound on his chest, still sputtering crazily. "Oh my God," he hoarsely whispers, obviously in shock. "You can't be serious." His eyes widen in absolute horror.

"It's true," she admits with a rueful sigh. "I like the crispiness and the little cells are like perfect syrup traps!" she says defensively.

He recoils in disgust and shakes his head. "I knew that there had to be something wrong with you; there was no way one person could be so absolutely perfect, but you had me fooled with your pretty hair and your nice eyes and your adorable smile."

She bites back a grin from his dramatics and, of course, his compliments. "I'm not perfect, you know," she corrects in a light tone.

"Well, clearly!" he snorts disdainfully. "In the long, grueling war between pancakes and waffles, you've chosen _their _side! The side of the enemy! How do you live with yourself?"

Ally finally lets the smile tugging at her lips take over. "Austin," she says with amusement, "just eat your pancakes."

"I am going to have to seriously reevaluate this past week," he sighs dramatically, before loading up another forkful and shoving it in his mouth sullenly.

She laughs and stands up, leaning over to peck him affectionately on the cheek. He stills, blinks at her in surprise. "Sorry I shattered the illusion," she murmurs mock-seriously as she continues to hover near him. However, her eyes are light with laughter.

He gives another dramatic sigh before pecking her cheek in return. "You know what the worst part is?"

"That my cheek is now sticky?" she mumbles dryly as she moves to sit back down. She grimaces at the syrupy mark he left behind on her cheek, feeling the now taut area as she works and moves her face. She reaches up with her napkin to wipe away at the mess.

"No," he says with a roll of his eyes. "That I still think you're perfect, despite you being a waffle girl and me being a pancake guy."

"Waffle Girl and Pancake Guy," she muses with a small smile. "The worst superhero names ever."

* * *

They part ways a little later, since she had to open Sonic Boom and Austin had to get ready for work as well.

She smiles at the kiss he gave her before he finally walks into his apartment. Try as she might, she can't shake the memory of his soft lips on hers as she continues to walk to work, an extra bounce in her step, much like the previous days. She hopes that his kisses will always leave her feeling tingly all over, that they'll continue to root her to the spot and make her toes curl and send shivers and shakes up and down her spine, that they'll never, ever get boring. So far, she doesn't think they will.

Snippets and snatches of the past three days run through her mind's eye. She starts rewinding and replaying special moments, fast forwarding through boring moments, and slow-moing some of her favorite memories. It had been like some sort of bizarre and romantic getaway; they had literally spent every moment together, work being the only thing that forced them apart.

Just the two of them, for three whole days.

But now? Now, with best friends coming back into town and her father's return quickly following, she'll have to make some introductions.

Yeah, she's nervous. Like, way nervous. However, her nerves have nothing to do with them liking Austin; she know they'll like him. Love him, even.

It's more like... she doesn't know how to _not _blindside them with news of Austin and hers' new... companionship.

She winces at the term, but it's really the only fitting label for them at this juncture in time.

Don't look at her like that.

It's not her fault she doesn't know how to properly 'label' their new... whatever it was. And while, yes, 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' were fitting terms that she desperately wanted to be able to apply, it seemed a bit too fast.

The only thing they really talked about—and agreed on—was to take things slow, that night on Christmas Eve after they'd stumbled into her apartment—which still did totally smell like cookies. They had landed in a heap of tangled limbs on her couch, their mouths connected in heated kisses, when Ally finally pulled away, blurting out that she wanted to take things slow.

He'd stared at her, still dazed from her kisses, before she saw his eyes starting to clear up.

Never in her life had she been so afraid of rejection.

Austin, however, eased any sort of doubt or worry by kissing her gently on the temple and telling her that he was more than willing to go whatever pace she wanted, as long as they could continue to see each other.

So no, they hadn't slept together. But that isn't to say that the night of Christmas Eve had been _entirely_ innocent, as she recalls some of their nightly activities with a faint dusting of her cheeks.

Either way, she had been more than relieved that Austin had completely understood and agreed to take things slow.

After all, it _was_ just a week ago that she finally got his name in that faithful elevator trip.

And now, she's toying with the idea of claiming him as her _boyfriend?_

It was one of those things where, when she's spending time with him, none of that mattered, labels fell away and practical reasoning flew out the window. It always surprised her—scared her, even—when she took a step back and remembered that she's only really known Austin for a week.

She knows he likes her, she's not naïve, but she still wants some sort of... confirmation or _something, _as silly and high school as that sounds. She just knows that she can't quite introduce him to her family and friends as her 'Austin'. Well, she supposes she could, but it wouldn't make much sense. If anything, it might just raise more questions.

She's finally outside Sonic Boom and reaches for her purse to unlock the doors. She squares her shoulders and readies herself for the day.

She tries not to let her thoughts drift too often to a certain blond. She tries, instead, to focus on work and look forward to seeing Trish and Dez again tonight.

But instead of curly locks or a freckled face, her mind is consumed with images of a teasing smirk and bright, brown eyes.

* * *

Ally waits outside the terminal as the plane lands. She crosses her arms to keep from pressing herself up to the glass in anticipation for her best friends. Her eyes flit from person to person as they exit the plane, wondering when Trish and Dez will show up.

Finally, toward the tail end of the passengers, she sees a mess of wild curls on a short stature next to a tall, lanky redhead.

An excited grin splits across her face, so wide that her cheeks nearly hurt and she waves at them through the glass. She nearly shouts their names, but remembers that they probably won't hear at the last second.

Dez spots her first, throws a quick nod and grin in her direction before elbowing his girlfriend. Trish looks over and her surly expression changes to one of relief and happiness as she grins back.

A few minutes later, the three are happily embracing once again.

* * *

After picking up his car from the airport's garage, he pulls up to the side where Trish and Ally are waiting patiently with the luggage. They load up his car and Ally slides into the back seat.

"So did you spot him?" she asks as they all situate themselves. She buckles up and glances at the back of Dez's head curiously.

"No," the redhead sighs sadly. "The ever elusive Bigfoot eluded us," he says.

Trish groans. "Can we please not talk about the trip? Dez was the only person that had fun and he didn't even have fun because we _never saw Bigfoot_."

Ally gives them an apologetic look. "I'm sorry the trip was a waste, then."

Dez shrugs. "There's always next—"

"Finish that sentence," Trish growls. "Go ahead. Finish it. I _dare _you."

The driver winces. "She _really_ hated the trip."

Ally swallows her fit of giggles. "I can tell."

"When we get back home, you are making this up to me, I hope you know this. You ruined my Christmas, you bozo."

Dez turns to look at the shorter girl with guilt written all over his expression. "I'm sorry, Trish."

She rolls her eyes but tones down her anger and irritation a few notches, if the suddenly lighter mood in the car is anything to go by. She turns around to look at Ally and asks, "So did anything happen while we were gone?"

Now, she realizes, is the perfect time to bring up Austin.

Ally swallows nervously. "Um, well, actually..." She squirms in her seat under Trish's now suspicious gaze.

"Ally?" the Latina calls sharply.

The brunette winces at the tone. Her hands fly to her lap and she starts twiddling her thumbs. Like, legitimately twiddling her thumbs in some sort of thumb war between her right and left thumbs.

"Ally?" Her name leaves her friend's mouth in a gentler tone as Trish's eyebrows crease in worry.

"I'm seeing someone," Ally blurts at last. Her eyes shut as she braces herself the repercussions of her confession.

"You're seeing someone?!" Dez shouts in incredulous surprise as his head whirls around to look at her. This causes him to swerve on the road.

Ally shrieks and clutches desperately at her seat belt.

"Eyes on the road, bozo!" Trish screeches, punching her boyfriend in the arm.

"Sorry, sorry!" Dez apologizes as he rights himself on the road.

Trish takes a deep breath and runs a hand through her curls, calming herself from Dez's scare. "Now," she breathes quietly as glances at Ally. "You're seeing someone?!" she echoes Dez's exact reaction.

Ally nods, waiting for her heartbeat to slow down. "I am."

"Since when?!" Trish demands.

Ally blushes. "Christmas Eve...?"

"WHAT?!"

She winces. "I mean, we've known each other for a week—I mean, we've known each other since he moved in a few months back but—"

"Wait, slow down," Trish sighs. She reaches up to massage her temples. "What's his name?"

"Austin Moon."

Trish and Dez look at each other. She raises an eyebrow in question and he shakes his head, answering her unspoken inquiry. She turns back to Ally and Dez turns back to the road. "So we don't know him, do we?"

She winces again. "Um, well... you kind of talked—"

Trish's eyes widen as she suddenly remembers Christmas Eve. And the phone call she had made to Ally. And the guy that had kept her friend company. "Wait, is he the guy with the weird left knee?! You're dating _Weird Left Knee Guy?!_"

"He has a name," Ally interjects weakly. "And that was only a joke!" she quickly added.

"I thought you said he was just your neighbor!" Trish frowns.

"He was—he is! He _is_ my neighbor. He lives a few doors down from me, in 508."

Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. "So when I called you, you guys were just neighbors... and now you're _seeing_ each other?"

Ally feels a headache coming on. "Yes," she answers tiredly.

"Sorry, Ally, I'm only trying to keep up."

"I know." The girl in the backseat sighs. "It all happened kind of fast..."

"Did you sleep with him?" she demands excitedly.

Ally chokes on her spit and her eyes pop out of their sockets. "No, no, I haven't!" she cries frantically with a desperate shake of her head.

"Oh..." Trish actually sounds kind of disappointed and Ally has to fight the urge to roll her eyes.

"But, um, we've been spending every night together," she whispers quietly. She presses her hands to her suddenly hot cheeks and averts her eyes.

"But no sex?"

"Triiish," Ally whines exasperatedly.

The Latina rolls her eyes. "Okay, okay! I won't ask any more embarrassing questions."

A small sigh of relief. "Thank you."

A beat. And then, "... Is he hot? Because he sounded _way _hot on the phone."

"Hey!" Dez scowls, jealous boyfriend mode kicking in slightly.

"I'm not going to _hit_ on him!" she scoffs with a roll of her eyes. "Not when he's my best friend's boyfriend and when I'm a taken woman!"

Dez's grip on the steering wheel loosens ever so slightly and he relaxes.

"So is he?" Trish presses.

Ally flushes a deep red and is grateful for the night drive so Trish can't fully see her complexion. "Um. He's... he's..."

"Be honest."

"He's probably the most attractive guy I've ever met in my life," Ally sighs tiredly.

Trish whistles excitedly. "When am I going to meet your new hot boyfriend?"

Ally sinks in her seat and massages her forehead with a hand. "He's actually not my boyfriend..." she grumbles.

Admitting that out loud for the very first time makes her heart sink in despair.

"What?!" Trish and Dez cry at the same time.

"He's not your boyfriend?" Dez frowns.

"But you've been spending every night together?" Trish follows up.

Ally gives an aggravated groan and throws her hands up in the air. "We haven't made it official or anything, but I like him a lot, okay?!"

Trish raises an eyebrow. "And he feels the same way about you?"

Her short burst of confidence disappears as quickly as it came. "I'd like to think so."

"Ally, I don't know how I feel about this..."

Ally flinches at the amount of concern in her friend's voice. She meets Dez's worried glance in the rear view mirror for a second before tearing her eyes away.

"Austin's a good guy," she says quietly, confidently. "We might not have an official label or anything but I know that we care about each other other, alright? I wouldn't be mentioning it if it wasn't serious to some extent or if I didn't plan on getting serious with him."

She doesn't miss the couple exchanging glances in the front seat, but chooses to stay quiet.

"We want to meet him," Trish says firmly. "Whether he's your boyfriend or not, we definitely want to meet him."

Ally finally feels the beginnings of a smile coming on as she relaxes into the seat. "Of course," she promises in a relieved tone.

"But text me a picture of him if you see him tonight!"

Ally rolls her eyes but doesn't make any sort of promise over Dez's very loud protesting.

* * *

After Dez drops Ally off at the apartments, she quickly rides the elevator to the fifth floor. Within seconds, she's standing in front of 508 and knocking tiredly on Austin's door, waiting impatiently for it to swing open. She knocks again when he hasn't answered in a sufficient time frame.

The door swings open and Austin looks down at her with an affectionate smile. "Hey," he says as he leans in closer to her.

She grunts and quickly slips past him and into his apartment. He blinks at the empty space and turns around to eye her with concern as she collapses in an exhausted heap on his couch. He closes the door and meets her in the living room.

"Ally? You okay? I thought you'd be happy after seeing your friends." He joins her on the couch as his brow knits together.

"I'm just tired," she murmurs. This is, of course, only the half of it.

His eyes soften and he gathers her up in his arms and kisses her forehead. "You want to go to bed early? I was going to heat up some dinner, but if you're tired..."

"I grabbed something when I was at the airport waiting for Trish and Dez," she says as she snuggles against his chest. "But I don't want to go to bed yet," she admits.

"Alright," he says.

She remembers something else that she had picked up from the airport as well. She'd been browsing some of the stores while trying to kill time. She saw something that reminded her of their conversation that morning and had been giving Austin some trouble, so she had impulsively purchased it for him. However, after her conversation with Trish and Dez in the car, she's now hesitant to give him his little gift, especially since it kind of came with some implications.

"So how did it go?"

"I got something for you." The rush of words tumbles out of her mouth and she groans at her own stupidity.

A beat passes. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting that response.

"You, uh, got me something?" he asks in mild surprise.

She sits up a little straighter and his grip around her loosens up. "Yeah, at the airport when I was waiting for their plane to land." She berates herself for even bringing it up. "It's stupid, never mind."

She moves away from him and he frowns from the loss of contact. His hand quickly captures her smaller one and he gives it a firm squeeze. "I'm sure I'll love it," he grins encouragingly.

Ally freezes and her eyes bounce around the room as she refuses to look at him. "No, you won't. It's really stupid," she says in a low voice and a blush creeps into her neck and up to her cheeks.

Austin rolls his eyes. "Is it in your purse?" he asks flatly as he makes a quick grab for it.

She squeals and moves it out of his reach. "Austin!"

He gives her a playful smirk. "Just tell me what it is!" he demands.

Her jaw works silently for a few minutes and finally, her shoulders slump in defeat. She rifles through her purse for a few seconds before fishing out his little gift and placing it in his hands.

Austin blinks at it in confusion.

"It's a toothbrush."

"Uh huh."

She blushes as he eyes her curiously. "I got it for you because you've been staying at my place the past couple of nights and I know how much you care about dental hygiene. But you've been dragging yours back and forth this entire time and that just seems silly and annoying so I got you a permanent toothbrush for my apartment."

His eyes widen in surprise.

Her blush deepens and she realizes that a toothbrush is usually considered as the first step to moving in. "I'm not—I'm not trying to imply anything! I just thought that if you had one here and one at my place, it'd be eas—"

Austin interrupts her with a slow and deep kiss. Her breath hitches and her wide eyes flutter briefly before shutting completely. She's just about to melt into the kiss when he starts to pull away.

"I love it," he murmurs against her lips before kissing her again.

"You do?" she asks timidly after he pulls away again. She bites nervously at her bottom lip.

He chuckles quietly and nods at her. "It's very thoughtful of you," he says with a smile. "My very own toothbrush. It's like we just took another step."

She swallows and realizes that he just gave her a great opening. "Another step for what?" she asks hoarsely.

Austin shoots her a confused look. "For us," he states simply.

She flushes. "So... we're exclusive, right?"

He suddenly frowns. "I certainly hope so. Why? Have you been meeting Randy Raz behind my back?" he jokes.

Ally rolls her eyes. "So... can I call you my boyfriend?" she asks hopefully.

Austin quickly looks guilty and he sets the toothbrush on his coffee table to focus all of his attention on her. "I didn't know you needed confirmation about us," he admits softly. His brows knit together worriedly. "I never said anything because I thought it was pretty obvious..."

She shakes her head. "It's not—I just—" she breaks off with a sigh. "This past week has been so crazy, you know? Everything happened pretty fast and we never had time to talk about anything and I just—I didn't want to assume anything." She reaches up and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "And I didn't know what to call you."

"By my name, would be nice," he shoots at her playfully. At her exasperated stare, he winces. "Sorry."

She continues. "You're not _just _my neighbor anymore and you're definitely more than a friend."

A beat as both their minds wander back to some of their more physical memories.

"I mean, clearly," Ally states bluntly as a small blush colors her cheeks. "But I was afraid to call you my boyfriend without... your permission, so to say." She raises an eyebrow at him. "I didn't want to resort to calling you my 'Austin'."

Austin shoots her a delighted little smirk. "I didn't realize you were so possessive."

Ally cracks a smile. "Shut up."

He sighs and nods a bit. "But I guess you're right. And to be perfectly honest, I _was_ kind of waiting to have the whole 'boyfriend/girlfriend' talk," he admits quietly.

Ally freezes. "What do you mean?" she asks carefully, trying to keep the mild hurt out of her voice.

"We have been doing everything pretty backwards... I mean, I haven't even taken you out on a real date yet."

She frowns, feeling more and more disappointed. "You took me to Jimmy's party," she reminds him softly.

He rolls his eyes and waves it off with a dismissive hand. "That doesn't count! We were only going to call it a date as a back up plan, remember?"

"Oh yeah," she mutters.

Austin runs a hand through his hair, staring at her purposefully. "Look, I want to take you out on a real date, not an 'at home in our apartments' date. Like, a real dinner, at a fancy five star restaurant, with a waiter that will serve us wine, and at the end, we share a ridiculously decadent dessert."

And eyebrow arches. Her lips twitch with the beginnings of a smile. She definitely likes the sound of that. "Really?" she asks coyly.

He nods, his familiar smirk starting to reappear. "Yeah. And I'll feed you off my fork and we'll fight over the last bite of whatever type of cake or mousse we're having but we both know that I'll eventually give in and let you have the last bite, anyway."

Laughter bubbles up from her throat, but she does her best to keep her expression schooled. "Wow. You've really thought this through, haven't you?"

Austin gives a nonchalant shrug. "There's a script if you want to read over it. But just so you know, I gave you two monologues; they're both about how amazing and gorgeous I am."

She fixes him with a bemused stare. "That doesn't sound narcissistic at all," she says sarcastically.

"I think you start crying over my chiseled six pack at some point. It's all very Oscar-worthy, don't worry," he reassures her with a straight face.

She can't help it as her eyes drift down to his lower abdomen and she gives him a small smirk. "Well, your six pack does already have its own fanclub," she says in a sultry whisper. She leans into him, and her hands land on the smooth planes of his chest as his arms quickly reach out to wrap around her. "I have to admit, it's perfectly merited."

Austin slowly lowers their bodies until they're lying down on the couch. His head rest comfortably against the arm rest and he grins down at her she settles in against his chest. She looks up at him with a playful smile and his hands slip underneath the hem of her shirt to rub circles along her lower back.

He smirks down at her. "Well, your approval is the only one that actually matters," he says in a husky whisper.

"Oh, trust me. I approve," she laughs.

The smirk widens. "Why, Ally Dawson, are you feeding my ego?" he asks in a shocked voice.

She rolls her eyes. "Revel in it, Austin. This isn't ever going to happen again."

He chuckles and kisses the top of her head. They relax and let a moment of comfortable silence take over. A hand moves from her lower back to run a hand through her soft hair. Her eyes flutter close as she lets him massage her scalp and trail his fingers down the length of her hair. After a few moments, he sighs contently into the quiet.

The sound makes her stir. "What are you thinking about?" she murmurs. Her eyes remain blissfully closed.

"So you're my girlfriend now," he says. He sounds mildly awed, like he can't quite believe it.

An eye pops open. As his words fully sink in, she feels a rush of warmth spread through her, from head to toe. She wiggles her toes experimentally. She's still warm and fuzzy. "I'd like that, yeah," she smiles softly.

He returns the smile and shakes his head. "We're so backwards," he laughs. "I haven't even taken you out on a real date yet, and I get the pleasure of calling you my girlfriend."

She snorts and rolls her eyes. "I got you a permanent toothbrush for my apartment," she reminds him with a pointed stare. At his bright laughter, she grins again. "Austin, you know you don't have to take me out on a date, right?"

He groans. "Argh. But it makes me feel like such a bad boyfriend," he moans in a guilt-ridden voice.

Ally wiggles up the length of his body and kisses the corner of his lips. "I just like spending time with you," she says simply with a small little shrug.

His brown eyes soften as they stare back at her. "Me, too, Ally."

With a wide smile, she moves her head back down to rest her cheek against his chest, tucking her head right underneath his chin.

Is it too horribly cliched of her to make a mental note of how perfectly well they fit together?

"But I'm still making reservations for this weekend."

Her laugh echoes through his apartment.


	2. Disastrous Desserts

Oh God. I am so sorry. I think the conversations and dialogue kinda got away from me in this chapter. Hopefully it's still a fun read?

Also, just to remind everyone, this is a sequel to my previous fic, Christmas Things.

I steal a direct quote from Parks and Recreation and allude to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries in this chapter. It'd be cool if any of you guys catch the shoutouts.

Oh, and the feedback for this has been awesome, so thanks, guys! Glad you're enjoying this so far. Granted, we're only two chapters in, so let's see how long that lasts.

One last thing, sorry. This chapter goes out to Karen and the much missed Bruno.

* * *

Ally's phone rings while she's at work and she gestures for an employee to take over so she can take this call. Sandra, an older teenager hired just a few months ago, nods and smiles as she heads over to stand behind the counter.

She jogs up the stairs, accepting the call half-way up them. She doesn't even have time to utter a greeting.

"So when are we meeting him?"

Ally raises an eyebrow at the direct question. It's been a little over twelve hours since she last saw Trish—and therefore, had the conversation about Austin—but clearly, this matter cannot wait.

Her hand twists a knob, entering the practice room and closing the door. "I don't know. How abo—?"

"We're free tonight."

Ally sighs and slumps down on the piano bench. "Trish. I should at least ask—"

"Sounds great! See you guys tonight! Bye!"

And then Ally finds herself staring perplexedly at her disconnected cell phone.

Trish had never been a patient soul.

With an irritated sigh, she scrolls through the A's in her contacts and stops at _Austin Moon—_she wasn't one for cutesy nicknames—but her finger hovers over the call button.

A picture of him from the time he stole her phone to snap ridiculous photos of himself pops up as his contact picture. She had walked into her living room after a quick bathroom break to find him in the middle of his narcissistic photo shoot. When she'd asked for an explanation, he had just smirked and jokingly said, "Just in case you ever missed me."

She likes to scroll through them sometimes. Not that she'd ever tell him that.

She smiles briefly at the picture of him, with his features contorted into an exaggeratedly disgruntled expression. Specifically, his lips are turned down into an absurd frown, his nose is scrunched up like he's been hit by a fowl stench, his brow is lowered like a neanderthal's, and his messy bedhead in the picture reminds her just how much her fingers love running themselves through his hair. It certainly wasn't the most flattering snapshot of him, but it had made her laugh the hardest so she'd immediately set it as his contact photo.

Ally finally hits the call icon and waits for him to pick up as she presses her phone to her ear. He answers almost instantly.

"Hey, what's up?" he sounds pleased, if not a little surprised, by her phone call. They spent so much time with each other outside of work, they never felt the need to text and call throughout the day, unless it was to confirm plans or something along those matters.

"Are you free tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"Yes. Tonight. Are you free?" she reiterates in a light, humorous tone.

"No. I'm not."

She frowns. "Oh," she says in a small, hesitant voice. She wracks her brain, but doesn't remember him mentioning anything about being busy later tonight. "Um, I didn't know you had something planned..." She's a bit disappointed that she won't get to hang out with him tonight, but she's more terrified of the wrath she'll have to face from Trish when she doesn't see Austin on her arm. "So, what are you doing, then?"

"I was going to lounge on my couch with my gorgeous girlfriend and watch old screwball comedies on Netflix because I know how much she loves black and white films," he answers in an almost bored tone. "She's, uh, she's pretty demanding," he adds with a tired sigh.

Ally bites down on her bottom lip to keep her grin from taking over her face. She feels a light flutter in her stomach, aimed more at the 'girlfriend' comment than the 'gorgeous' comment. "Oh, demanding, is she?" she asks in a flat tone, attempting to play along.

"Uh huh," he answers dully. "So, sorry, but I'm already booked for the evening."

Ally can hear the grin in his voice, toward the end of his comment. It makes her chuckle into the phone and she shakes her head. "I'm sure she'll love what you have planned for her." And she does, because while she owned quite a large collection of classic movies on DVD, Netflix's selection of the genre still managed to make her envious.

"You think she'll want me to pick up ice cream on the way home?"

The chuckling dies down and she sighs into the phone, thinking back to Trish's orders—because really, it wasn't exactly a polite request. She clears her throat and says, "Austin..." before trailing off hesitantly.

"... We can do Go-Gurt if you're not feeling ice cream?"

She makes a pained smile at the reservation in his voice. She's touched that he would actually consider giving up ice cream for Go-Gurt, even if it was only for a night. "Uh, no. Ice cream sounds delicious, but we're going to have to cancel those plans."

"Oh." He sounds disappointed and confused.

"Trish wants to meet you," she blurts. She winces and reaches up to twirl a strand of hair around her fingers, mostly out of nerves.

"Oh." Now he sounds surprised and confused.

A beat of silence passes by.

She mistakes his silence as an answer for not wanting to go. She'll just have to think of an excuse to cancel on Trish later. "Austin? Austin, it's okay if you don't want to go. I'll just—"

"This is a big deal, isn't it?" he asks, plain and simple.

She starts at the question, eyes blinking in rapid succession and her fingers pause mid-twirl in her hair. She doesn't want to freak him out about the big-dealiness of meeting Trish and Dez. They are her best friends, after all, and the most important people in her life.

"Um. No, no it's not a big deal. Like, at all. Nope, not a—not a big deal."

Yeah, that lie could have gone better.

"You're lying," he states, sounding amused by her inability to lie convincingly.

Her shoulders slump and she presses the heel of her hand in between her eyes. "That was your _out_, Austin!" she moans. "You could have easily overlooked my lie and we could have avoided the whole thing."

"I don't mind going, Ally," he says lightly.

She perks up a little. "Really?" she asks in a timid voice.

"They're your friends!" he laughs. "Of course I don't mind. I mean, I was bound to meet Trish and, uh—Dez? Was it?—eventually, anyway." He pauses for a second and then continues. "But I just want to make sure you feel like you're ready for me to meet your friends," he adds softly. "I know you already feel like we rushed some things, so I just want to go with whatever pace you're comfortable with."

She smiles at his words. "Thanks, Austin. I really appreciate that."

"Seriously, whenever you're ready," he says in an understanding tone.

Her grateful smile turns into a regretful one as she mutters her next words. "The only problem is, whether I'm ready or not, Trish _is_." She sighs. "So basically, if we don't show up, she's just going stake out our floor until she catches even the slightest glimpse of my 'supposed boyfriend'," she adds in a droll tone.

"What's all this 'supposed' business?" he asks in a playfully hurt voice that manages to make her relax and smile. "Anyway, if it makes you feel any better, I'm up for it. What would we be doing?" he continues, taking on a more sincere and serious tone.

"I have no idea," she honestly replies. "Trish just called me up and told me that we'd be seeing her tonight. No details about anything yet. But it's Trish, so she'll probably text me about whatever she wants to do in a few hours."

"I'm sure things will be fine. Besides, we really connected that day we were on the phone together. I feel like I can tell her all my hopes and dreams and share all my secrets with her; secrets that I've yet to tell _you_, Ally Dawson," he says jokingly.

She snickers. "Okay. Trish can always use another girl friend to confide in."

"Ouch."

* * *

Ally spends the rest of the day constantly checking her phone for a text from Trish, Or even a text from Austin with some lousy excuse so he can back out. No text from Trish but Austin, as if reading her mind, texts her _Heard from Trish yet? Pretty pumped for tonight!_, probably hoping to calm her nerves.

The gesture makes her smile and it works. Not as well as she'd like, but it definitely helps the uneasiness that has settled into the pit of her stomach.

She knows Trish and Dez will love Austin. And she's pretty sure he'll at least get along with them; he was such a nice, easy-going guy, how could he not? But the whole 'first time meeting the boyfriend' ordeal is still pretty nerve-wracking. And, well, it doesn't help that she's a bit of a perfectionist and she can't really imagine a night of 'perfection' if she has to deal with all three of them in one—sure to be—eventful evening.

An evil, taunting voice in the back of her mind reminds her that she'll have to go through this whole thing again, but with her father, in a few days.

Ally can only deal with one crisis at a time, so she quickly shuts that thought down. It's still there, though... lurking in the creases of her mind.

A loud buzzing from her phone stirs her from her thoughts and her hand flies to snatch it from its hiding spot underneath the counter. She sighs in relief when she sees it's from Trish.

_Your place? Dez and I got into a fight while unpacking and things are a mess over here...will bring dessert!_

Ally laughs and shakes her head. And then she stops and makes a mental note to warn Austin about their rather _volatile _relationship. She quickly types out _Sounds great. Anything will do_,and is about to hit send, when she thinks of past incidents during dinner. She adds_ But please don't let Dez pick or make it_, for good measure and then sends the whole message.

_Please. After his confetti custard cake disaster you think I would trust that idiot with dessert again?_

Ally shudders from the memory.

_Oh, thank God._

* * *

Ally leaves Sonic Boom an hour early so she can help Austin prepare for this impromptu dinner party. Which is why he's rather baffled to find her at his door right at this moment.

"Don't you have another hour of work?" he asks in confusion.

"Missed you, too," she murmurs sarcastically, standing up on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. She pulls away and moves to enter his apartment, but he holds her in place. She's about to irritably tell him that they have about an hour and a half to prepare dinner for four on very limited supplies in her kitchen so she may or may not have to raid his fridge and that they _needed to hurry the hell up_, when he kisses her right on the lips.

Well, this isn't too bad, she decides and she feels her irritation melting away as she relaxes into his kiss.

He ends the kiss and gives her a sheepish look. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting you so early, but it was a nice surprise," he murmurs.

And now that his lips are off hers, she reaches a point of clarity and her mind reminds her of her whole dinner situation.

"No time," she suddenly declares, eyes popping wide open as the cloudiness disappears.

He raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"Trish and Dez are stopping by my place in about an hour and a half," she says hurriedly. "We have to make dinner for four by 9:30. I don't even know if I have enough food for four people, because I can't remember the last time I stocked my fridge," she rushes in a worried tone.

His brows furrow. "Should we go to the store?"

"... I was just gonna raid your fridge?" she asks hopefully with a teeth-bearing grin and cocked shoulders. "I'm scared we won't have time," she tacks on with a wince.

Austin looks at her bemusedly. He finally lets her in and closes the door. "Okay, let's see if I have anything. Do you have any ideas about what to make?"

Ally shakes her head as she follows him into the kitchen. "Trish isn't that picky, so as long as it isn't too exotic or out there, she'll be fine. And Dez will honestly eat anything and everything. Like, even more so than you."

He raises an eyebrow. "That big of an appetite?" he questions, sounding impressed.

"No. He just likes to test the boundaries of what's edible and what isn't," she says with a roll of her eyes. "He once ate parts of a lobster shell because he liked the crunch."

"... Yeah, can't say that I've done that," he mutters as he tries to imagine someone eating lobster shell. He can't imagine it to be tasty.

"Austin, focus! Stop thinking about the eating potential of a lobster shell and _focus!_" she snaps.

He shakes himself out of his reverie and turns back to his pantry. "Right, sorry!" He yanks the door open and peers at the semi-decently stocked shelves.

"Is there anything good?" Ally asks desperately as she pops in under his arm and scans the various food products.

"Well... I've got noodles."

"Pasta's always great!"

"... But nothing to make any sort of sauce with."

"Not helping," she growls as she shoots him a dirty look over her shoulder.

"Sorry," he says sheepishly. And then he scratches the back of his head as his eyes squint in careful consideration. "Uh, how about we make, um..." he trails off, grasping desperately for a dinner idea. "Do your friends like cereal?" he finally asks pathetically.

"I am not feeding my friends cereal," she mutters with an unimpressed look.

He visibly deflates but then perks up and snaps his fingers at her. "Hey, Ally, you still got some leftover chicken?" he asks hopefully.

"What, the chicken breast from a few nights ago?" she asks, thinking back to the contents of her freezer. "Yeah, I think so."

He grins. "We could make stir fry! I have some frozen vegetables and if you cut up that chicken, we may be good." He leans over her and pulls out a small bag of uncooked rice. "And I have this, too," he says as he shakes it at her.

Ally laughs in utter relief and leans up to kiss him on the cheek. "Ah, Austin, you are the best!" she squeals excitedly. "Okay, I'm going to run home and grab the chicken, you get the vegetables started." She ducks under his arm and runs to his front door. "I'll be right back!"

"Ally!" he calls dryly.

She turns around and her eyebrows furrow impatiently. "What? Austin, we're in a—"

"Aren't we having the dinner at _your_ place?"

"Oh." She blinks. "Right."

He laughs. "I'll meet you over there when I get everything together. Leave your door unlocked."

"Sounds good!" she says sheepishly as she leaves his apartment.

Austin shakes his head and grabs whatever else he may need to make their dinner.

* * *

"You know, for someone who claims to be a bad cook, you sure do have a lot of random food stuffs," Ally comments lightly as she eyes her counter full of various spices and sauces Austin has laid out to flavor the stir fry.

Austin snorts and goes about throwing everything together in a small, flat-bottomed wok. "I don't eat my own cooking because it's good, Ally, I eat it to _survive_."

She looks at him in alarm, taking a break from preparing the chicken. "Why am I letting you cook for my friends, again?"

"Hey, I make a decent enough stir fry, okay?" he says defensively. At her unconvinced look, he rolls his eyes. "Well, now I do, anyway. The first eight or so times? Not so much," he confesses with a flinch.

Ally laughs and starts slicing the chicken into small, even pieces. "Austin, I can make it if you don't want to," she points out.

He waves her off and turns to the stove, his back now to her. "No way! I'm trying to win brownie points with your friends, here." She bites back a smile at his honesty. "If they find out that _I_ was the one that made their delicious dinner, they'll say—" he breaks off to clear his throat daintily and then he adopts a high-pitch and heavily accented feminine voice for his next bit, "—_'Oh mah goodness! Your darlin', handsome boyfriend cooked us this most delicious meal? Why, Allison, honeh, you've found yourself a man of true husband material!'_" And then he looks at her smugly from over his shoulder.

Ally stares at him, expressionless, for a beat. "When did my friends become southern belles?" she finally questions tonelessly.

Austin shrugs and shakes the wok back and forth. "It's the only accent I can really do."

"It was terrifying."

"You wanna hear my British accent? I'm actually pretty good at that one, too."

She snorts and shakes her head. "No, thanks," she says. "You should save it for the next time you have to imitate somebody else in my life," she jokes.

"I'll whip it out when the time is right," he says confidently.

Ally rolls her eyes but laughs anyway as she walks up to him with the chicken in hand. She points at the wok and he nods, gesturing for her to go ahead. She carefully dumps the cut-up chicken into the wok and steps away as it starts to sizzle.

She washes her hands and dries them on a towel. "I'll get started on the rice," she says.

"Okay," he says absently, keeping an eye on the chicken and flipping the wok every so often.

They focus on their separate tasks in companionable silence for a while. After Ally presses the 'cook' button on her tiny rice maker, she turns to look at Austin's back. She walks up to him and stands at the stove to be by him as she watches him cook.

"Hey," he grins after noticing her from the corner of his eye. "You still nervous about dinner?" he whispers quietly.

She shakes her head and sends him a faint smile. "Not after smelling this. It's amazing, Austin," she murmurs, sounding awed as she eyes the delectable looking stir fry. The smells and the sounds are making her mouth water and she suddenly realizes just how hungry she is.

"Thanks!" he says brightly, looking every bit like a puppy that had gotten a treat and a fond pat on the head for doing a trick correctly. "And good!" he adds for good measure. "For not being nervous, I mean," he explains. "Just your best friends meeting your super hot boyfriend, right?" he says as he sends her a wink.

Ally jokingly slugs him in the shoulder with a tiny fist. "You're not _super _hot," she says weakly under her breath.

He laughs, barely feeling this particular punch. "Don't worry, I'll be on my best behavior," he promises as he leans over to press a gentle kiss to her forehead.

She smiles and her eyes flutter close from the feeling of his lips against her skin and his nose burying briefly into her hair.

And yes, her heart still skips a beat, if anyone was wondering.

* * *

They're setting the table, when she suddenly remembers her mental notes about her friends.

"Austin!" she shouts abruptly, straightening so her spine is in an upright position.

He freezes. "What am I doing wrong?" is his immediate response. His eyebrows furrow at the one plate he's set down on the table. Surely, there's nothing wrong with that plate, right? He looks up at her in concern. "Is it the plate?" he asks stupidly.

"What?" she asks in confusion, her train of thought momentarily derailed. Her eyes dart down to the plate and back up to him. "Austin, the plate's fine."

His shoulders slump in relief and he exhales deeply. "Oh, good."

Ally wants to ask him why he's so worried about the plate but remembers her friends again. "Forget about the plate!" she says with a wave of her hand. "Austin, there are some things you need to know about Trish and Dez."

"Like what?" he asks as he continues around the table, laying down the plates. Ally follows with the silverware.

"They tend to be a bit..." she trails off, trying to think of the right word. "Shouty," she finally decides.

He pauses, an eyebrow rising. "Shouty?" he repeats incredulously. He's used to his girlfriend's much more impressive vocabulary, so a word like 'shouty' comes as a slight surprise.

Ally winces. "Okay, so 'shouty' isn't the right word," she admits. "Volatile is probably a little more accurate," she amends. "I mean, they're not always like that, but if they are tonight, just ignore them!"

"Ignore them, got it. You want me to shut the door in their face, as well?" he asks sarcastically. Before she can begin to over-think things, he laughs and gently takes the silverware out of her hand, finishing the job for her. She immediately starts fidgeting with her hands and he smiles at her nervous tic.

"Ally, are they your best friends?"

She blinks at his sudden question. "Of course!" she says loudly with a confused frown.

"And do they always look out for you? And have your best interests at heart?" he continues gently.

The fidgeting stops. "Of course," she repeats, this time in a firm, steady voice.

Austin grins at her. "Then that's all I needed to know," he says simply with a small shrug.

Ally smiles and exhales in relief. She looks at him gratefully and throws her arms around him in a hug. "You always know what to say," she mumbles into his chest.

His eyes soften and he smiles quietly from her hug. He looks down at her and wraps his arms around her smaller form. "Jeez. How are you gonna be when I'm meeting your dad?" he jokes.

She freezes in his hold and he winces from the slight tightening of her arms.

Maybe he shouldn't have made that comment.

Ally takes a deep breath and quietly exhales. "One crisis at time, Ally," she mutters under her breath as she steps out of the hug.

His eyebrows furrow. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" she quickly says. "I'm going to finish setting the table. With napkins and glasses, I mean," she sighs as she sets off into the kitchen again.

She's on her tiptoes in the kitchen, reaching for her cabinet with glasses, when Austin hears a knocking at the door. "I'll get it!" he calls delightedly and practically runs to answer the door.

"Wait, Austin!" Ally shouts in a panic over her shoulder. "Wait! Let me answer—!"

"Finish setting the table!" he hisses at her as he opens to the door. "Hello!" he greets at a short, woman with black, curly hair and a lanky redhead that's as tall as he is. There was a box in the woman's hands, as well.

The man and the woman look at each other in surprise and then back at him.

"Uh, I think we've got the wrong apartment," the woman answers. Her eyebrows furrow in shock as she glances up and down at him silently. The once over she gives him is more calculating than lascivious, which makes him grateful.

"Oh," Austin says disappointingly. He'd thought for sure that this was Trish and Dez.

The redhead frowns and scratches his head in confusion. "I dunno... I could have _sworn _that this was Ally's apartment..."

Austin brightens. "Ally?" he repeats with a small smile. "Ally Dawson?" The couple nods at him, looking even more unsure. "You guys must be Trish and Dez! You've got the right apartment, after all!" he laughs merrily.

Their jaws drop. Their eyes bug out in the most comical way. Finally, after their perfect imitations of floundering fish, they manage to find words. "_YOU'RE AUSTIN?!_" they shout in bewilderment.

He raises an eyebrow at their reaction. "Uh, yeah. That's me," he says slowly, with a friendly, albeit awkward, smile. "Nice to meet you guys."

Ally has finally made her appearance. "Trish! Dez!" she says breathlessly, showing up at Austin's side. She grins happily at them. "Hey, guys! Come on in and—gah!"

Trish has reached over to thrust the box she'd been carrying into Austin's chest so she could yank Ally by the arm out into the hallway to join her and Dez.

Austin stumbles backward a few steps and he clumsily catches the box before it drops. "Who-oa!"

"Hey, Austin! Why don'tcha do me a favor and refrigerate that pie for me? Thanks, pal, you're a doll!" Trish shouts as she shuts the door in his face.

"Oh my God!" Ally breathes as Trish gently slams her against the wall. "What was that for?!" she shouts irritably as she shakes the hair out of her face. "And since when did manhandling become a sign of friendship?" she adds under her breath.

Trish gives her an overly excited look, practically bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "_That's _the guy? _That's _the guy you're seeing? _That's _Austin?"

Ally stares at her friend oddly. "Yes. Yes. And... yes," she says in a slow, clear voice as to make sure Trish understands her. She flushes a little and fidgets with the hem of her top. "And, um, he's kind of my boyfriend now." She winces at her own wording. "Well, not kind of, he totally is," she quickly amends with a tumbling motion of her hands.

Trish's jaw drops. "Since when? Just last night you were all, '_Oh, golly gosh gee, he may not be my __boyfriend but I sure do think he's swell!_'"

Ally gives her friend an offended look. "Never in my life, have I spoken like that," she states in a miffed tone.

Trish ignores this and raises an eyebrow. "So? When did this happen? The official boyfriend and girlfriend titles coming into play, I mean."

"Last night," she answers tiredly. "I was going to introduce him as my boyfriend so there wouldn't be any uncertainty but then you pulled me into the hallway and shut the door in Austin's face," she reminds her, expressionless.

Trish lights up at the mention of the blond's name. She nudges Ally and throws her a suggestive glance. "Oh my God! Can we just take a moment to talk about how Austin is so totally—" and then she breaks off guiltily and turns to her respective boyfriend, who'd been watching them with amusement etched into his features. "Sorry, Dez. Uh, never mind."

"Oh no," he says airily with a shake of his head. "You can totally continue. Because my God, is Ally dating a beautiful man."

The girls share a look and then raise an eyebrow.

Ally stares at him bemusedly. "Um. Thanks, Dez," she says uncertainly as her brow starts to knit together.

"I mean, I really wish I could have his body," he says with a shrug.

"What?" Ally blurts in a loud, alarmed voice.

Trish gives him a disgusted look. "Ew! Like, naked and tied up in your basement?"

He rolls his eyes. "NO!" he shouts at his girlfriend. "I just meant—we're both tall but he's so muscular and fit and I'm like..." he breaks off to stare at his tummy sullenly. "Hey, Mr. Flabby, lookin' extra flab-tastic today..." he coos in a sad and pathetic voice as he rubs his belly.

Ally's head drops into her hands. "Why did I agree to this?" she moans, suddenly irritated with herself that she thought this would go smoothly. With one hand still palming the side of her face, she extends her free arm and points emphatically down the hall. "Leave! Leave now!" she demands petulantly. "Austin and I are going to eat your pie without you because you two are so utterly embarrassing that you _don't deserve pie_."

Dez gasps at her, taken aback. "Everybody deserves pie!" His hand continues to rub his belly after the brief pause caused by his outrage.

Trish rolls her eyes. She turns to the taller brunette. "Ally, we're getting our crazy out now so we'll be fine when we meet your boyfriend." She turns to Dez. "I like your flab," she says with a small grin as she pats his stomach affectionately, making him smile at her. "Now stop rubbing your stomach like a pregnant woman and let's go interrogate Ally's hot, new boyfriend!"

Dez stops and lowers his hand. "I wonder if he bleaches his hair," he muses out loud.

Trish snorts derisively and waves a dismissive hand. "He probably tries to pull that 'it gets lighter in the sun' bullshit."

"Oh my God," Ally breathes in horror as her head drops in her hands again.

"No, but seriously. Ally, why haven't you tapped that yet?" Trish suddenly asks.

"Yeah." Dez nods. "I would have totally tapped that if given the chance," he says.

"I would totally give my boyfriend permission to bang your boyfriend because that is how hot your boyfriend is."

The horror continues to consume her body, mind, and soul.

"Not that I would," Dez clarifies.

"Not that he would," Trish adds in a soothing voice.

Ally takes a deep, calming breath and holds up her hands to quiet her friends for a minute. "Okay, you know what? Embarrassing me is fair game, fine, whatever," she pauses before continuing with a wince, "I mean, at least keep the embarrassment factor to a minimum, if that's not too much to ask. But please, please, _please _try not to completely harass and horrify Austin. He's the innocent in all of _this_," she pleads with a wild and crazed gesture between the three of them.

Trish and Dez exchange a look and finally decide to give their friend a break.

"Alright, alright," she says in a gentle, sincere voice. "Dez and I promise not to harass and horrify Austin. Intentionally and too much, anyway."

Ally mulls over her friend's words, her head tilting side to side. "Yeah, okay. I'll take it," she finally agrees with a resigned nod.

"So can we eat now?" Trish demands impatiently. "I'm sooo hungry!"

"What did you guys make, by the way?" Dez asks curiously.

"Chicken and vegetable stir-fry. Austin made it, actually," Ally answers, beaming with pride.

Trish's jaw drops in an impressed manner. "He can cook, too?!"

Ally hesitates, unsure as to how to answer the question honestly. Especially after his confession about only eating his own food to survive.

"He makes some mean pancakes," Ally says instead, with a curt nod.

Dez rubs his hands together. "Well, let's go eat, then!"

Ally rolls her eyes half-heartedly and finally cracks a genuine smile at her friends. "I've missed you two. I'm really glad you're back," she says softly before turning her back on them to open the door to her apartment.

Behind her back, the couple exchanges a secretive look.

She makes it a half a step into her living quarters before Dez and Trish hug her from behind and obnoxiously coo that they've missed her, too.

Ally stumbles from the added weight and takes a second to steady herself. She can feel their cheeks nuzzling against her back and she flushes. "You guys! You couldn't wait until I was _in _my apartment? What if someone walks by?"

"Well, this is adorable, but unexpected," Austin muses with his head tilted to the side as he grins at his girlfriend and her friends, huddled together in the doorway.

Ally sighs resignedly and opens up her arms to him. "Come, come join us," she says with a wry grin. However, Austin sees the laughter alight in her eyes as she makes 'come, come' motions with her hands.

Trish and Dez, one on either side of her, both throw an arm out as well. The end result is a human blob with four arms welcoming Austin into a giant group hug.

He grins and bounces up to them, wrapping his arms around the three friends.

* * *

"So, Ally told us you made this?"

"What? The stir fry?" Austin asks. When Trish nods as she helps Dez spoon some onto his plate—less it ends up on his lap or something—he nods solemnly and points at Ally. "Yeah, I did. She didn't do a single thing, didn't even lift a finger to help, like the slave driver she is." And then he shakes his head sadly, like a broken man.

Ally sputters indignantly and glares at him. "I did so help!" she protests. "And I offered to cook, but you wouldn't let me, anyway!" She points at her friends' plates. "I cut the chicken." She gestures to the rice. "And I made the rice." She glares at her boyfriend. "It was a joint effort."

"Sweetheart," Austin begins in a patronizing tone, "the rice cooker made the rice."

A beat passes by.

"I put in the right amount of water," she grumbles under her breath.

Trish and Dez laugh at their friend's sullen expression.

Ally rolls her eyes, but laughs a little anyway. "Austin and I usually do cook dinner together, though. I think this is the first time he's cooked something on his own. Well, something that didn't involve breakfast foods, anyway."

"Let's just hope it's edible," he says.

The guests both take a bite of their stir fry and turn to Austin.

"Not bad," Trish nods in a bored manner.

Dez grins. "That's about the nicest thing she'll say, but it means that it's delicious," the redhead translates. "Which it is," he adds before taking another bite.

Austin gives them a small smile. "Thanks, guys. I'm glad you like it," he laughs.

Ally swallows her own bite and turns to him as well. "It's great, Austin. Thanks for making dinner for me and my friends," she praises with a sweet smile.

The blond ducks his head and bashfully pushes his food around on his plate. "Anything for you, Ally," he says before looking up to meet her gaze, smiling warmly at her.

Trish and Dez share a look, already starting to approve of this new guy in Ally's life.

"So, Austin," the Latina suddenly calls. She does feel a little guilty for interrupting their intimate staring contest, but she's eager to get the deets on their relationship.

Ally holds her breath and focuses on channeling her energy and thoughts into telepathic messages to send to her best friend, all of them begging and praying for her to behave.

"Yes?" he answers politely as he looks at her attentively.

"How did you and Ally meet each other?"

The brunette sighs in relief. At least that's a simple, normal question.

Austin and Ally share another glance.

The blond scratches his temple thoughtfully. "Uh. The very first time? Or the first time we actually made introductions?"

Trish grins curiously. "Both."

Austin turns to Ally and smirks a little. "I bet you don't even remember the very first time we talked," he laughs.

She wracks her brain desperately but manages a wince after she comes up mostly empty-handed. All she has are images of brief, passing hellos and quick, muttered apologies whilst diving out of each others' way. "Uh, can't say that I do," she confesses sheepishly.

He laughs again and then shakes his head. "Okay, so I had just moved in, right? Been here three, maybe four, days and I'm stepping out, about to run to the store to stock up on groceries or something, and then this tiny, itty, bitty thing gets out of the elevator." He jerks a thumb at Ally as he starts smirking.

Ally's eyes narrow at his description. "I happen to be a full-grown woman," she bites out.

"At a staggering height of five foot two, we know," Trish teases playfully.

Ally slumps in her seat and pouts. "Go on," she tells the blond in a dull tone.

Austin chuckles a little and continues. "So she's got her arms _loaded _with giant grocery bags, right? Like, they're covering her face from view and she can't even see over the top of them. And she's even got some bags hanging off her elbows, too." Austin pauses to mime the amount of bags Ally had in her arms. "I have no idea how she managed to navigate anywhere without walking into something. It was insane. Right, so, I run over and I'm like, 'Hey! You need some help here?' and I'm about to grab the bags out of her arms and she turns away from me! She turns her back to me and she tells me that she doesn't need any help."

Ally flushes. "Oh yeah. I remember that," she mumbles quietly.

"I was just trying to be polite and chivalrous, you know," he points out lightly.

"I just wanted to get home! And I kinda thought you were Connor," she admits apologetically. "I wasn't in the mood to make small talk that evening."

Trish raises an eyebrow. "The guy that lives down the hall? The one that we caught an elevator with that one time?"

Ally nods. "Yeah, that's Connor."

"That guy was super into you, Ally."

She throws her arms up in the air. "I know that _now!_ He admitted it on Christmas Eve," she mumbles embarrassingly. Trish looks giddy and opens her mouth, not doubt to ask further questions, but Ally holds up a hand to silence her. "Which is another story for another time."

Austin makes a gagging noise as he remembers back to that moment on Christmas Eve. His eyes narrow and he shakes his head in disgust. "_Connor_," he says the name slowly and disdainfully as if it was a foul curse word.

"He's a nice guy!" Ally crosses her arms and glares at him. "You just don't like him because you found out he had a crush on me," she accuses.

Austin stares at her flatly. "That's a perfectly valid reason to not like him," he states in a monotone voice. "Because you're my girlfriend."

"I wasn't at the time!" she reminds him with a roll of her eyes.

"Minor, unimportant detail," the blond adds under his breath with a flippant wave of his hand.

Trish and Dez start snickering to themselves and Ally flushes. "Just get back to the story," she grumbles.

"Anyway, I was a little offended by the brush off, but I couldn't help but watch her get into her apartment." He turns to look at her before he starts up again. "So, full disclosure, I was kind of hoping you'd drop something so I could help you and rub it in your face."

She raises an eyebrow at his confession. "Charming."

"But I was also pretty curious to see if you were cute or not." He smirks devilishly at her. "You were, by the way. _Super _cute," he says with a little head nod.

The brunette shakes her head. "Oh, just finish the story, already," she urges, despite the smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

Trish and Dez can't control their cooing as Austin's smirk widens and Ally fights the grin trying to take over her face.

"Right, so Ally somehow makes it into her apartment without spilling or dropping anything. And I was really impressed, actually."

"Told ya I didn't need any help!" she cries triumphantly with a smug smirk. She drops her hands out in front of her, palms facing her torso with her fingers spread wide, and she cocks her head to the side. "BOOM."

He leans in toward her and, very seriously and very quietly, asks her, "You're adorable, you know that?"

She laughs and grins at him. "It just comes so naturally," she jokes as Austin starts chuckling at her.

Dez frowns. "Wait. Did you get a chance to see her? I thought you said her bags were covering her face."

Austin turns back to their guests and shakes his head. "No. It was the next morning when I finally saw her. So, my boss calls me in for an early morning and I step out in the hallway and then, lo and behold, 503 opens up and out steps Ally."

Her eyebrows shoot up. "You knew my apartment number that early on? Should I be worried?"

"It was only because I saw you go into 503 the night before. Grocery Girl isn't the best nickname, okay?" he says defensively. "503 isn't much, but it's something," he points out.

"Hm, I suppose that's fair," she murmurs. "I only knew you as the 'hot, new blond' for the longest time," she confesses with a mild shrug.

He grins wickedly. "So you thought I was hot from the start?" he asks excitedly.

She snorts. "It's what I heard from all the other tenants," she insists. She bites back a giggle when he deflates a little.

"So then what happened?" Trish asks curiously.

"Yeah! What happened? Was it love at first sight?" Dez wonders with a lovesick expression that makes Trish roll her eyes.

Austin chuckles and shakes his head. "No, not really," he admits. "She was really cute, though, and I wanted to talk to her, so I slowly made my way to the elevator, hoping that if I had timed it right, we'd catch the same ride."

"So did you?" Dez asks, full of suspense as he leans in toward Austin.

He turns to Ally. "You remember that morning?" he asks with a curious look, complete with a lifted eyebrow.

Ally shakes her head and coughs awkwardly. "Not particularly. But I'm going to guess that I walked right by you, despite an open and obvious invitation on to the elevator, and ended up taking the stairs," she sighs.

"_Ding, ding, ding!_" Austin sounds. "And we have a winner," he laughs. "Oh man, Ally. You like _ruined _my day when you did that." He shakes his head at her, but he's still laughing at the memory.

Ally winces and gives him a sheepish look. "I'm sorry! I was probably just in a hurry to get to work so I didn't notice."

Trish snickers. "Okay, so when was the first time you guys actually talked and introduced yourselves, then?"

"It was a few days before Christmas," Ally answers with a nostalgic smile.

He nods and matches her expression for a brief second before he focuses on telling the rest of the story. "Yeah, I pretty much gave up after that night and that next morning," he admits. "Anyway, it was a few months later and I was running to the elevators, hoping to catch Ally's ride—not that I knew it was hers—because I saw the doors just starting to close."

Ally rolls her eyes. "And then the idiot tries to pry the doors open with his hands," she scoffs.

"And my man strength!" he adds defensively.

"It's an automatic safety feature for the doors to open up," she states flatly with a raised eyebrow.

Austin dismisses her tidbit of knowledge. He turns to Trish and Dez. "It was all me," he whispers smugly as he points at himself.

She rolls her eyes again and then clears her throat. "Anyway, he gets on and I'm literally praying that he won't say a word to me."

Austin immediately frowns at this new information. "Rude," he mutters with a pout.

Trish can't help but laugh and she shakes her head. "I'm beginning to wonder how Austin ever won you over," she says incredulously as her eyes dart back and forth between the two.

"He did, though," Ally continues as she shoots him a toothy grin. "Anyway, we started talking a little after we got off the elevator, but it was getting late and I was tired so I just went home."

He grins. "And then the next day, I ran into her again. She was getting off the elevator and—"

"Oh, God, I was having an awful day that day!" Ally remembers with a shudder.

"Aw, what happened?" Trish asks.

"My dad tried to set me up with Randy Raz," she answers with a slightly exaggerated gag.

Trish's face falls. "Oh," she says in a sympathetic and understanding tone. "Yeah. You don't need to go any further than that."

Austin's eyebrows shoot up. "You know Randy, too?"

Trish nods. "The three of us went to school together."

Ally sighs. "Basically, I was going to head home and curl up into fetal position and disown my father for even _thinking _about setting me up on a date with Randy when Austin comes running after me." And then she looks at him bemusedly. "And then he just invited himself over for hot chocolate."

"Whoa, okay," Austin protests as he holds up a hand. "That's a mild exaggeration. I asked her if she wanted to talk about her bad day and she initially turned me down."

Ally gives the guiltiest look at this point. "And then when he turned to walk away, I felt like I had just murdered a puppy," she groans, covering her face with a hand. "I just felt so bad! He was being a nice guy, offering me a chance to rant about my life, and I just shut him down," she mutters with a wince. "So, before I even realized what I was doing, I was already calling his name to apologize."

Austin grins fondly as he recalls the events. "She looked _horrified_ when she had called me out," he laughs. "Like she couldn't believe herself—"

"Because I couldn't."

"—and I just laughed at her, because she looked so cute and embarrassed."

"So he came over for hot chocolate and... well, that's basically how we started talking," Ally finishes with a shrug and a small laugh.

"And I invited her over to my place the next day to return the favor. I had to go out and buy stuff to make hot chocolate, though," Austin adds as he turns to look at her. "But it totally worked, so I can't complain too much," he adds with a smug smirk.

Her nose crinkles cutely as her eyes meet his gaze. "I suppose I can't complain too much, either. I got a pretty awesome boyfriend in the end."

"Oh God, you guys are so adorable I'm going to have to smother you with my pillow," Trish says with a roll of her eyes. But she's smiling despite the empty threat and it's rather obvious that the new couple amuses her more than anything.

Dez is sniffling at this point and dabbing at his eyes with a clean corner of his napkin. "You two are so precious!" he wails dramatically, before burying his face into Trish's shoulder and sniffling even louder.

Austin tears his eyes away from Ally and looks to the redhead in alarm. "Is he alright?"

Trish rolls her eyes but rubs her boyfriend's back soothingly. "He's just an idiot. With a huge heart."

"She's trying to say Dez is a huge romantic at heart," Ally translates with an exasperated roll of her eyes.

"Oh." Austin doesn't look entirely convinced as his eyebrows knit together in worry as he continues eying Dez.

Trish rolls her eyes. "Let's just skip to dessert," she says flatly. "Austin, go bust out that pie we brought."

This does the trick, as Dez suddenly stops wailing and shoots straight up in his seat. An enthusiastic expression is plastered on his face and he throws his arms up in the air.

"PIE FOR EVERYONE!" he cheers victoriously.

* * *

"Hmmm," Ally hums happily around a mouthful of the sinfully decadent dessert. "This French silk pie is _amazing_," she moans.

Trish laughs and takes a bite. "I know it's one of your favorites." She gives her an apologetic look. "Sorry we didn't have time to make anything. We just picked it up on the way here."

"It's okay. I don't mind. Really," she says in short, staccato bursts. Ally cheerfully takes another bite, clearly not at all bothered by Trish's store brought offering.

Austin laughs and reaches over to swipe some whipped cream off the corner of Ally's lips. "Thanks for the pie, Trish, I think you totally made Ally's night," he says with a grin before taking the whipped cream he'd just wiped away and brushing it off on the tip of Ally's nose.

Ally stops mid-chew and blinks, startled at the sudden appearance of the fluffy white on her nose. Her eyes momentarily cross so she can look at the tip of her nose before she turns to Austin in annoyance. "If this pie wasn't the most amazing thing I've ever tasted, I'd throw it in your face right now. But as it stands, I cannot afford to waste this decadent thing of beauty."

He rolls his eyes but reaches over and cleans off her nose with a gentle swipe of his napkin. "I'm sorry," he apologizes in a light, amused tone.

"Thank you," she says as she goes to take another bite.

"Really?!" Austin cries exasperatedly as he reaches over and cleans the same corner again.

She just beams innocently at him with her chipmunky cheeks full of the delicious pie. She doesn't bother thanking him this time as she focuses the rest of her attention on her slice of heaven.

"Well, I'll be honest. I was too lazy to make anything, anyway," Trish laughs.

Ally grins. "I would have fallen over in shock if you had made something for dessert," she teases.

"Well, better me than Dez," she snorts.

Dez rolls his eyes. "I don't know why you guys wouldn't let _me_ make anything," he pouts as he takes a bite of pie. "Although, this_ is_ really good," he admits.

"Never again. Not after Christmas of '09," Trish states as she shudders in horror.

Dez frowns. "You're never going to let that go, are you?" He sighs. "Can't you guys give me a second chance?"

Ally raises an eyebrow. "Dez, we _did_ give you a second chance to make a dessert. It somehow ended up being even _worse_ than the confetti custard cake."

Austin looks intrigued. "Confetti custard cake?" he echoes after he swallows a bite of pie.

Ally turns to him. "Okay, so the idea was, Dez was going to bake a confetti cake, and then there was supposed to be custard oozing throughout the whole thing," she explains helpfully.

The blond nods slowly. "Right, okay... that doesn't sound too bad." He wrinkles his nose thoughtfully. "Maybe a little odd, though."

"To be honest, Ally and I were actually kinda interested, a little afraid, but interested in this little creative dessert," Trish admits. "But this bozo over here ends up under-cooking the cake parts and burning the custard parts," she mutters, jerking a thumb over to the redhead.

"And then there wasthe explosion," Ally chimes in.

Austin's eyebrows shoot up. "There was an explosion?" He turns to the redhead. "You exploded your own confetti custard cake?" he asks incredulously.

Dez, at the very least, has the decency to look sheepish. "I pulled it out of the oven and I was trying to let it cool down. It was, uh, bubbling in some parts. I went to poke a fork into it and it kinda went _splat!_" He holds up his forefinger and thumb not even an inch apart. "A small explosion," he swears solemnly. He shrugs. "I should have added the custard _after_ the cake, but hey! Ya learn something new everyday," he says with an easy-going grin and a nonchalant shake of his head.

Ally grins and leans back into her seat. "I like to call it _The Catastrophic Confetti Custard Cake Combustion of Christmas 2009_," she says in a dramatic voice and she spreads her hands across the air in front of her, as if smoothing out an imaginary banner.

Austin looks at her bemusedly. "Right. Because that rolls off the tongue so easily," he teases lightly.

"The alliteration is nice though, c'mon," she says with a pointed stare.

He nods and smirks at her. "It is rather impressive," he admits sincerely. His smirk widens when Ally beams proudly at him.

"She likes to call it that. I like to call it 'one of the many times Dez fucks up'," Trish says humorlessly.

"Mine's way cuter," Ally stage-whispers from the corner of her mouth, behind a hand.

The blond laughs. "Okay, and for whatever reason, they trusted you to make a dessert a second time? Even after _The Catastrophic Confetti Custard Cake Combustion of Christmas 2009?_" he asks with a raised eyebrow.

Trish rolls her eyes. "Ally believes in second chances and I just felt bad after he begged and begged," she snorts.

Ally turns to the redhead. "You blew it, Dez. No more chances for you," she says dryly.

"Hey! At least that one was edible!" he cries defensively. "_And_ nothing exploded that time!" he adds smugly.

Austin snickers. "Well, 'edible' _is_ a step up from 'explody, bubbly mess', so..."

"Austin, he made green bean cranberry gelatin," Ally says in the driest voice she can manage.

The snickering stops and he whips his head over to Dez. "You made _what?_"

"Green beans, suspended in a cranberry-esque, gelatinous monstrosity," Ally elaborates.

Dez points a stern finger at the brunette. "Don't use your judgey voice on me, missy. It was _delicious_."

"He was the only one that ate it," the Latina states flatly. "No one else wanted to go near the thing."

"_Delicious_, I say!"

Austins grimaces and says, "Uh, I'm sure it was, Dez." He turns to Ally bemusedly. "So do you have a name for that one?"

She slumps in her seat dejectedly. "No. There was no way to have a fun alliteration, so I just call it 'that one time Dez thought it'd be a good idea to put green beans in cranberry jello'."

The blond pauses and takes a minute to think quietly to himself. "How about... _The Great Green Bean Suspension within the Cranberry Confines of Gross Gelatinous Goo?_" he finishes with a snap of his fingers.

Ally lights up excitedly at the title, her mouth forming a perfect, little 'o'. "Ooh. I like that! _The Great Green Bean Suspension within the Cranberry Confines of Gross Gelatinous Goo!_" she shouts as she points at him and hops up and down in her seat.

"The dream team of naming disastrous desserts!" Austin cheers as he holds up his hand for a high five.

"Heck yeah!" Ally whoops as she smacks her tiny hand against Austin's much larger one.

Dez frowns petulantly. "Dang. That _is _really good, though," he admits under his breath. Even Trish can't help but give an impressed nod.

"Thanks, guys," Ally laughs.

"You know what we have to do to celebrate, right?" Austin asks in a solemn voice.

She frowns and raises an eyebrow. "Quit our jobs and travel the country to provide names and titles to the greatest dessert disasters in the world?" she asks in a mock-serious tone.

"Close," he answers in a grave manner. Seconds later, Austin scoops up some whipped cream with a finger and drags the same finger down the length of Ally's nose, grinning wickedly as she squeals indignantly.

She digs her fingers through the dollop of white topping her own slice of pie and quickly swipes at Austin's cheeks. The end result has two little streaks under his eyes. They're a little uneven and it ends up looking like crude warrior paint. "Oops?" she says faux-innocently with a small smirk as he glares at her.

"Okay, Dawson, if that's how you wanna play..." he mutters as he reaches for the can of whipped cream in the middle of the table with a feral grin.

The smirk drops from Ally's face. "No. Oh, no. No. Austin! Not in my apartment!" she squeals as he shakes the can vigorously and sprays the whipped cream all over her. She shrieks with laughter as she turns her head away and holds out her hands in a pathetic attempt to catch most of the dessert topping.

"Oh my God," Trish breathes in horror as she watches the couple laugh and mess around. "They're like two adorable puppies frolicking in a meadow of daises. I wanna look away, but I just can't. Argh, I think they're giving me _feels_, Dez."

Dez snickers. "They _are_ pretty cute," he grins as he watches them in amusement.

"No! Aus—mmph!"

Ally's cries get drowned out as Austin aims the nozzle into her mouth. He laughs as she makes a face but swallows the rest of the whipped cream, anyway. He's gotten it everywhere, all over her clothes, in her hair, on her seat, and across the table.

Austin finally comes to a stop and he grins down at her.

Ally glares at him and continues to do so as her tongue darts out to lick her upper lip. "You're cleaning up this mess," she says in a very stern voice, despite the heaving motions of her chest. She scrunches up her nose and rubs at it with the back of her hand to keep from inhaling any of the whipped cream.

His wicked grin widens and he leans into her ear. "Can I start with you first?" he whispers huskily as he kisses her lips to get the rest of whipped cream off her mouth.

Trish and Dez's eyebrows shoot up and they share a scandalized look.

"Should we leave?" Dez whispers.

"Is it weird that I feel like we should be eating popcorn?" Trish whispers back in sheer fascination, her wide eyes never leaving the couple.

With a quick upwards jab of her elbow aimed at his upper chest, Austin grunts in pain and pulls away abruptly.

"We have guests!" she cries in horror, her face a mix of embarrassed red hues and a creamy, white mess.

"Oh, right." Austin flushes as well and turns to her friends, giving them a sheepish wave. "Uh, hey guys. Sorry about that," he chuckles uncomfortably. He clears his throat and averts his eyes.

A beat of awkward silence passes by.

And then the sound of the nozzle being pressed.

"Austin!" Ally hisses exasperatedly as she turns to him.

He gives her an innocent _What? What did I do? _expression with wide, rounded eyes as he swallows his mouthful of whipped cream.

Dez snaps his fingers and points at the dessert covered duo. "_The Whipped Cream War 'Tween Two __Wanton Warriors!_" He pumps a fist triumphantly as he sings out, "Nailed it!" And then he bites his bottom lip and looks at the two of them hopefully. "So, uh, can I join the dream team?"

* * *

Dez and Trish stay long enough to finish their slices of pie. They'd stay longer, Trish points out, if it hadn't been for the mess Austin had made.

Ally doesn't argue as she eyes the whipped cream in her hair tiredly.

She could have done without Trish's suggestive wink at the mention of them 'needing to clean up', though.

So as soon as they exchange their good-byes and she closes the door, she turns to Austin with an annoyed stare.

She gestures with a hand at her face and her hair. "Thanks for this, by the way," she says tonelessly.

He laughs brightly and leans down to kiss her sticky cheek. "You're welcome," he shoots back smoothly. He licks his lips. "Hm, you're even tastier than usual," he smirks suggestively as he moves to kiss her on the mouth.

His lips meet her palm instead, with a loud _smack_.

"Oh, no," she says in a stern voice as she gently pushes his face away. "No kisses for you. Kisses are for good boys." She points at the mess in her dining room. "Help me clean that up and maybe, just _maybe_,I'll let you kiss me before we go to bed tonight."

He turns around and winces at the mess he made during dessert. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," he mutters.

Ally can't help but chuckle. "C'mon. I'll get some rags and we'll be—"

"It's alright," he interrupts with a shake of his head. "I'll clean it up by myself."

She frowns and looks at him. "Are you sure?" she asks. Her eyes soften as he nods. "I'm not mad, you know," she says honestly.

Austin smiles at her. "Yeah, it's fine. Why don't you just go take a shower?" He looks at her apologetically and runs his fingers through her mussed up and whipped creamed hair. "Sorry for getting carried away," he mumbles guiltily as he tries to untangle some of her hair. His hand pulls away covered with cream and he sucks some of the dessert topping off a knuckle, but the apologetic look in his eyes doesn't go away.

Ally grins a little and shakes her head, making little bits of the whipped topping fall out of her hair. "I'm really not mad," she promises in a gentle voice. "But a shower does sound great," she admits as she looks down and pulls her shirt away from her body, wincing at the way it continued to stick to her.

He nudges her slightly with his elbow. "I'll take care of the dishes, too. Go take your shower," he urges in a soft voice.

She places a sticky hand on his chest and presses up onto her toes to peck him lightly on the cheek. "Thanks, Austin," she murmurs gratefully as she pulls back with a grin.

* * *

Ally leaves her bathroom after her quick shower to find Austin sitting on her couch, checking his phone. She makes her way quietly into the living room.

He hears her light footsteps across her carpeted floor and looks up at her with an upwards quirk of his lips. "Hey," he calls lightly as he places his phone on the coffee table.

She grins and moves to stand in front of him. She holds up a comb. "Do you mind?" she asks hopefully.

"Just don't ask me to braid your hair," he says warningly as he takes it from her. He makes room for her and leans comfortably into the corner, where the arm of the couch meets the back. His long legs take up a good portion of the seats as well. He gestures for her to make herself comfortable.

She laughs and settles in between his legs with her knees pulled up. "I think combing it will be fine," she murmurs as she rests her chin on a knee. She closes her eyes as Austin begins to comb gently through her wet hair. "Remember to start from the bottom and work your way up," she says absently.

"Ally, after that lecture you gave me last time, I don't think I'll ever forget," he says with a snort.

She chuckles a bit sheepishly. "Sorry."

He joins in on the chuckling. "It's alright. I love it when you get all feisty."

Ally grins and lets him continue in silence for a while, before she starts thinking back to dinner.

"Did you have fun? Meeting my friends during dinner, I mean?" she asks curiously.

"I think they got to know me better than I got to know them," he admits with a small laugh. "But they were pretty cool," he says. "We should hang out with them again some time soon."

She twists around in her seat and gives him a suspicious look. "Really? You mean that? Or are you just saying that?" she asks, clearly ridden with paranoia. She turns all the way around now, so she can properly face him with her questioning expression.

He moves the comb away and lifts an eyebrow at her. Half her hair is slick and smooth from his combing while the other half is still a frizzy, tangled mess. It should look ridiculous, but he thinks it's oddly endearing and she's just as adorable as ever. "I wouldn't lie to you, Ally," he says bemusedly. "I like them," he says earnestly, tucking a combed lock of hair behind her ear. "Trish is sarcastic and cool and Dez is a funny guy. And they weren't nearly as volatile as you made them out to be."

She gives him a look. "I made them promise to behave themselves tonight. They'll slowly leak more and more of their crazy as they get to know you," she says in a grave manner.

His eyebrows shoot up. "Ah. I see," he muses quietly. He tilts his head and looks at her. "Well, what about you? Did you feel like tonight was a success?"

She nods happily and beams at him. "Trish hasn't texted to tell me how much she hated you so you did well." She pats him condescendingly on the cheek, giggling at his eye roll. She's about to pull her hand away but he catches it in the palm of his. His head turns to the side and his lips press a quick kiss to her palm.

"Couldn't disappoint my girl," he murmurs against her skin.

She feels him smiling into her palm and she grins as their gazes meet. Her pupils flit back and forth as she studies his eyes, staring unwaveringly back at her. Everything about this moment, from the way he's looking at her, to his hand covering her own, to his lips still pressed against the inner lines of her palm, makes her heart come to a stuttering stop, makes her forget how to breathe, makes her want to concentrate on this moment for however long it will take to ensure a precise and accurate recollection.

Something in the back of her mind tells her that she'll have to make room for future memories to come.

Austin slowly brings their hands down to rest in her lap, his thumb brushing back and forth along hers as they sit in a comfortable silence.

"So... would now be a bad time to tell you that I heard everything when you guys were out in the hall?"

Her smile drops. "Everything?" she squeaks.

He nods and smirks cockily at her. "Uh huh."

Ally's eyes widen and she covers her face with her hands and whines feebly. "Why are my friends so crazy?" she whimpers. Her head shakes from side to side in a slow, agonized manner.

"I pretty much loved them before they even stepped foot into your apartment."

Her whining gets louder.

"They've got excellent taste in men."


	3. Neither Raging Nor Explosive

So sorry for the wait. Things have been hectic in my life. Thanks for your patience, guys. And for those of you who favorite and review and follow, thank you so, so much. It really means a lot and it's just an awesome feeling knowing that there are people out there willing to sit and read through my silly little stories that I write up for fun.

Also sorry that this chapter is only twelve pages as opposed to my usual twenty or so... Yay for the break on your eyes?

Dedicated to Miss-Rainy-Skies and Teresa, per usual. And a very special thank you to xoxoCherie for reading this chapter and bouncing ideas back and forth with me. She's totally awesome and such a sweetheart. You should go check out her fics!

* * *

Really, it's all Austin's fault that she's running late and has to use the elevator this morning.

When he'd pointed out that it takes two to cuddle, she'd purposefully looked the other way and changed the subject.

(In all fairness, Austin had offered Ally a ride, but due to traffic and the lights and the convoluted way to get to Sonic Boom through the streets, an eight minute walk turns into a fifteen minute car ride.)

Whatever, it's still his fault.

She's jamming her shoe onto her left foot, hopping around on her right like a mad woman, and furiously jabbing at the elevator button all at once.

Ha! How's that for multi-task—whoa, okay, she starts teetering a little too much to one side and has to re-balance herself before she completely topples over.

The elevator _dings_ open just as she's composed herself with a flip of her hair and the straightening of her skirt.

Too bad the elevator is currently occupied by one of Austin's groupies, Morgan, and Ally suddenly feels herself stiffening up as they find themselves in some weird, little stare-down.

Ally's first instant is to flee down the hall and take the stairs, but she likes to think that she's a mature young woman, so she just sucks it up instead and slowly, awkwardly gets into the elevator. She glances at the buttons and since they're both heading down to the lobby, she just flashes her company an awkward smile and inches surreptitiously into the back right corner of the small, enclosed space.

Running into one of Austin's groupies was bound to be inevitable so she knows that she couldn't have avoided it forever, but Ally really, really wants to live to see twenty-four.

Ally grabs her phone out of her pocket, ready to dial 911 _juuust_ in case, when Morgan suddenly turns to her.

"So are you and Austin, like, official?" she asks in a loud, blunt voice.

"Yes, very much so," Ally answers, as politely as she can. She even shoots the blank-faced Morgan a small, timid smile.

Morgan gives a huffy sigh and crosses her arms. "He's _so hot_. I'm so totally jealous," she pouts. She gives Ally a quizzical look. "No offense, but how'd you manage to land a hottie like Austin, anyhow? I thought you were, like, some crazy spinster lady," she finishes with a crinkle of her nose.

Ally frowns. "Does everyone think I'm some weird spinster?" she wonders out loud. Because, really, it's only okay if _she's _the making those jokes. She shakes her head and turns to Morgan. "You, uh, want to know about Austin and I?" she asks, pointing at herself. At Morgan's insistent nodding, the brunette flushes and cocks her shoulders, unsure how to answer properly. And then she realizes she'll just go with the truth. "Honestly, I have _no idea _how I landed an amazing guy like Austin," she admits as she starts to laugh. At her company's bewildered stare, Ally just smiles and shrugs a modest shoulder up and down. "But I'm lucky I did," she says quietly.

Morgan's wide eyes blink rapidly before she shakes herself out of it. She rolls her eyes and scoffs loudly. "Well, whatever," she huffs. "I guess you're just a lucky bitch, then," she says, lightly enough that it sounds like a compliment despite the derogatory label she has branded Ally with.

"Thank you?" There's a questioning and unsure lilt clouding her voice.

Morgan gives her curt nod. "Yeah. And you better sink your claws into him and not let him go," she warns, holding up clawed hands to scratch at the air in a defensive manner.

Ally stares at her, mildly alarmed. She looks down to her well-manicured rose pink nails in confusion. "My claws?" she asks.

The other woman nods again, this time much more fervently. "Oh, yeah! The bitches in this building are totally crazy, Daisy!"

"Ally."

"Who?" Morgan blinks at her. "My name's Morgan," she adds in a miffed tone as she frowns at the shorter girl.

"Never mind, Morgan. Just go on," the brunette sighs as she tries to suppress an eye roll. She's pretty sure she's never looked like a 'Daisy' before in her life, but whatever.

"Anyway, Dolly, like I was saying, Austin's totally the hottest guy in the building, right? Well, when you've got desperate hos and crazy bitches and a hot single guy, it's just, like, a recipe for a reality TV show disaster."

Ally raises a bemused eyebrow. "Austin's not single, though," she points out, sounding almost amused.

Morgan snaps her fingers and nods like she has just remembered something. "Oh, right! You two are, like, official now or whatever. But that ain't gonna matter to any of these girls, ya know?"

And then she strides over to Ally and stares her down, the latter starting to look very uncomfortable. Morgan breathes deeply and reaches up, presumably to put her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders in an odd act of camaraderie, but she seems to change her mind, because at the last second, Morgan just taps two fingers twice on either of Ally's shoulders and quickly drops her hands.

"They're desperate and crazy and if you're not careful, who knows what they'll be retarded enough to try?" she offers sagely.

Ally blinks at the piece of well-meaning advice, no matter how strange it was. "Uh, thanks, Morgan. I'll, um,... I'll keep that in mind." She flashes her an unsure smile. "Thanks, though. Really. I think."

"Don't stutter in front of them. It shows weakness and they'll pounce and take you down like the cute, little, clumsy baby gazelle that you are," Morgan warns, pointing an acrylic-tipped finger in her direction. "And then they'll jump on Austin's sweet cheeks like a cat in heat!" And then she mimes clawing and scratching.

Ally stares at Morgan blankly with wide, unblinking eyes. She's not sure how to respond, so she just continues to stare uncomfortably. "Uh..."

Luckily, the doors open up and Morgan pats her condescendingly on the head. "Well, bye, Delaney," she says with a small sigh. "I guess I'll be seeing you around." And with that, she gracefully exits the elevator and sashays through the lobby, turning heads as she went. "Tell your tasty piece of man-cake I say hi!" she throws over her shoulder.

Ally can't help but shake her head and let out an incredulous, slightly hysterical laugh as she exits the small space.

_Well_, she thinks as she hurries through the lobby, trying desperately to make it to work on time, _that wasn't so bad. Utterly bizarre, but not so bad._

* * *

Austin sighs resignedly at the knock on his door, but gets up from his couch to answer it anyway, muttering a quick prayer for it to please not be a member of his fanclub.

Damn the manners his parents instilled him with.

He opens the door and—surprise, surprise—it's Stacy, from down the hall in 510.

"Hey, Stacy," Austin greets in a bored tone.

"Is that other girl here?" she asks in an overly innocent and overly curious manner.

"And by 'other girl', did you mean Ally, my girlfriend?" he deadpans with a flat, unimpressed stare.

She gives him a thoughtful look. "Oh," she says in a small voice. "Is that what you're calling her?"

"Yes. Because that's her name and that's what she is."

With an annoyed pout, Stacy asks, "So where is she, then?"

The blond crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow. "Ally's at work," he answers curtly. "How can I help you?"

Stacy bats her eyelashes and thrusts out her chest to reveal her admittedly large assets with an ample amount of cleavage. "Really? At work?" she breathes.

"Oh God," Austin mutters exasperatedly under his breath as he looks over her shoulder, staring straight ahead at the door to the apartment across from his.

"Because I was wondering if—"

"Can't, I've got a raging case of explosive diarrhea," Austin declares in a loud monotone as he slams the door in Stacy's chest.

That has to be a big enough turn-off, right? Surely, no guy is hot enough to offset explosive diarrhea. Not even Ryan Gosling. Probably.

He runs an irritated hand through his hair before he pulls out his phone from his pocket. His thumb drags down the screen, scrolling through his contacts until he stops across Ally's name, tapping her name and then hitting the call icon.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up..." he mutters impatiently as he leans against his door, waiting for her to answer.

"Hey, Austin. What's up?" she greets cheerfully.

He lets out a sigh of relief and throws his head back with a mild _thunk. _"When are you coming home?" he whines.

Ally doesn't answer right away and he frowns at the silence. Has their call been dropped? He pulls his phone away to look at it and no, their call has certainly not been dropped. They're clearly still connected because he's staring at a lovely candid picture of her in the middle of brushing her teeth, with foam all over her lips and on one of her cheeks. Her hair is adorably frizzy and her pajamas are all rumpled from a night of sleeping and cuddling. Her eyes are wide with annoyed surprise, clearly not pleased that he had decided to ambush her in the bathroom with his camera phone.

Austin can't help but snicker at the picture of her, and he almost wants to print it out and keep a copy in his wallet. Or have it framed on his bedside table. Well, he'd have to _get _a bedside table first for that second option, but you know.

But then he remembers that she's been awfully quiet for quite a while. He frowns again and reattaches his phone to his ear, calling out, "Ally? You still there?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was just talking to Sandra," Ally explains with an apologetic tone. "You're in luck, Austin. She was reminding me that it's New Year's Eve, so we'll be coming home early tonight," she says in an amused voice.

He brightens instantly. "Oh thank God," he sighs happily under his breath.

"Why? Did you need me to come home right now or something?" she asks curiously, with a bit of worry edging into her voice. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no!" Austin says dismissively. "I'm just stuck in my apartment, bored out of my mind," he complains with a sigh.

A pause. "Wait, that's it?" she asks incredulously. "You called, asking me to come home early because you're bored?"

"And because I miss you," he adds in a seductive whisper without missing a beat.

He can hear her eyes rolling through the phone, which is impressive. "Austin, if it weren't for New Year's Eve, I wouldn't be coming home early, anyway. Especially if it's just because you're lonely and bored," she says with mixed tones of amusement and exasperation.

"Why? Is it super busy or something?"

She clears her throat a little. "Well, no, not really, to be honest..." she admits.

"... So... would it be, like, terribly horrible of you to close up shop early or...?"

"I'm not leaving any earlier than five, Austin," she says bluntly. "I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to figure out a way to entertain yourself without me."

"All these girls keep knocking on my door, wanting to '_entertain_' me and I can't even get my girlfriend to leave work early," he mumbles dejectedly.

"'_Entertain_' you?" she echoes in confusion.

"Yeah. '_Entertain_' me, if you know what—"

"Oh, I know what you mean!" she interrupts in an annoyed huff.

"I mean sex."

"Yeah. No, I got that," she says dryly.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have been an ass," he mutters. "But I'm just so annoyed because no one can take a freakin' hint in this building. Did you know that they _still _knock on my door to hit on me while you're at work?" he growls irritably.

"Oh, you poor thing," she coos sympathetically. "Tell me, how is your enormous—and now well-fed—ego keeping up?"

Austin rolls his eyes but his lips twitch into a smile anyway, because Ally always makes him feel better. "Oh, shut up," he chuckles. "Anyway, I keep having to make excuses so they'll leave me alone."

"Excuses?" she asks curiously. "Like what?"

"Well, I just told Stacy I have a raging case of explosive diarrhea."

"... That should do it."

All Austin hears is the slight static in their phone connection as a beat of silence passes by.

"Too awkward?" he finally asks.

"Just a bit."

"Well, it totally worked," he says smugly.

"I'm very proud of you and your explosive diarrhea," she deadpans.

He sputters on his own spit because he's never imagined hearing those last two words come out of his demure girlfriend's mouth. The reality of it is more than a little odd.

"Just get that cleared up before I get home," she sighs.

Austin continues his sputtering, but much louder and more indignant than before. "Hey! I said that was an excuse! You know I don't _really _have that, right?!"

"Oh, Austin," she begins in a faux-sympathetic voice, "It's alright if you do. These things happen."

His jaw drops and his face starts turning bright red. He doesn't care if they both know she's joking. "Ally! Ally, I'm just—you know that's not—"

"Oh, crap, Austin, I've gotta go! Bye. See you tonight," she says in a quick rush before the line gets disconnected.

He glares in frustration at his phone. Scowling to himself, he starts typing her a text wanting confirmation that she knows the diarrhea thing is a joke when he's interrupted with a message.

_Want me to pick up anything on the way home?_

"It was a joke!" he shouts pathetically to himself, alone in his apartment.

* * *

Later that day, when Ally reaches up to knock on Austin's apartment door, she finds the door opening up before she can even land her knuckles on the wood.

"Okay, so. Just to clear things up, I don't have a raging case of _anything_."

Ally blinks in confusion at her boyfriend and slowly lowers her raised arm. "I certainly hope not."

Austin glares at her. "Because I couldn't tell whether you were joking when we were on the phone earlier. And I had to make sure, okay?"

She snickers and raises an eyebrow. "You couldn't tell I was joking?"

He looks at her, very quietly and very seriously. Finally, "So we're good?"

Ally paints on a confused, doe-eyed look. Her eyebrows scrunch up and she cocks her head to the side. He'd find it adorable if he weren't so annoyed. "But wait, I thought you told me you had a raging case of explosive—"

"Nothing is raging and nothing is explosive!" he hisses emphatically under his breath.

She gives him a fascinated look. "Oh my God," she utters, partly baffled, partly amused. "This is really bothering you." She rolls her eyes a bit. "You realize you're acting crazy and offended over a case of imaginary diarrhea that you gave yourself in a poor attempt to repulse some deranged and demented girl that wanted to—and remember that this is your word, not mine—'entertain' you?" She crosses her arms and raises a bemused eyebrow.

He squints at her and asks, "What are you implying here?"

"That you're the biggest moron I've ever met," she says affectionately.

He stares at her blankly, letting his brain sort out her words and process them. All he manages to come up with is, "Ally, you're the smart one. I'm just pretty. That's how this relationship works."

"And it's a good thing that you're really, very pretty," she mutters dryly. She pats his cheek condescendingly before walking into his apartment.

Austin closes the door after her and grabs her wrist before she can make it to the couch. He chuckles and pulls her into him, arms circling around her slim waist. When she just stares at him questioningly, he kisses her forehead, saying, "I lied when I said that I'm the pretty one."

"Is there a third member of this relationship that I'm unaware of?" she asks sarcastically through a narrowed eye.

He rolls his eyes, but grins at her. "Clearly, you're the pretty one between the two of us."

She looks at him thoughtfully. "Oh, I dunno," she hums as she shrugs a shoulder up and down. "I mean, you're the one with the fanclub." When he frowns grumpily at the reminder, she laughs and leans up to kiss his nose.

Austin sighs when she pulls back. "You're never gonna let me live this down, are you?"

She grins and shakes her head. "Nope! Never."

He throws her an annoyed, pained look. "You know that I had at least four girls stop by today?"

Ally leans her forehead against his chest and laughs against the soft material of his t-shirt. "You are _so _lucky I'm not the jealous type," she chokes out in between her laughter.

"You should be," he pouts.

"What did they want?"

Austin rolls his eyes. "Mostly nothing. I just shut the door in their faces. But a few of them did invite us to their New Year's parties."

"Do you want to go?" Ally asks with a wrinkled nose.

Austin snorts. "You're making a face that clearly says you don't want to," he points out with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"I'm trying to be a good girlfriend," she whispers out of the corner of her mouth. "If you want to go, I'll go," she declares with a dramatic squaring of her shoulders, almost as if she were preparing to jump off a bridge with him.

His features crinkle up in distaste. "Nah," he says with a shake of his head. "I really don't feel like going."

Ally eyes him curiously. "Well, okay," she says with an amused smile. "Was there anything else you want—?"

She's interrupted by a knock on the door.

Austin and Ally share a look.

"Should we get it?" she whispers, moving toward the door.

His hold around her tightens, keeping her from moving any further. "You know I always answer the door, but maybe this time, we should just leave it," he mutters, glaring far too intensely at the inanimate object.

"Hey, Austin! It's me, Morgan. Is Betty in there?"

Ally face palms and Austin looks wholly confused.

"Who the hell's Betty?" he hisses.

"I tried her apartment, but she wasn't there. Hello? Austin? Betty? Oh, c'mon! I know you're home, Austin!"

He stares at the door in dumbfounded confusion. "No, seriously. Who the hell's Betty?" he asks quietly.

"_I'm_ Betty," Ally deadpans.

Austin whips his head back to his girlfriend and raises an eyebrow. "Oh?" He sounds intrigued.

She nods. "I was also 'Daisy' and 'Dolly' this morning," she adds flatly.

He snickers. "I'm guessing Morgan doesn't quite know your name, then?"

Ally wiggles out of Austin's grasp. "Well, no, she clearly doesn't. But we actually had a really—" she breaks off, about to say 'nice', but realizes that isn't exactly the right word, "—_interesting _conversation in the elevator ride down to the lobby this morning."

He looks surprised. "Really?"

She nods, placing a hand on the doorknob. "I'll tell you all about it later," she whispers before pulling the door open. "Morgan!" she says politely with a smile plastered onto her features. "What, um, a pleasure it is to see you," she continues, still sounding polite, but very confused.

Morgan grins at her. "Jeez. Took you long enough," she says with a roll of her eyes. "What, were the two of you, like, banging or something?" she asks curiously as she tries to peer into the room.

Ally chokes on her own spit and hurriedly shakes her head. Her cheeks start to rapidly turn different shades of red and she sputters, "Oh my God, Morgan! No, we were just—"

"Oh shit," Morgan interrupts as she goes to cover her eyes. "You probably don't want me checking out your naked BF, huh? Sorry."

"Uh, the BF isn't naked, Morgan," Austin pipes up as he hurries to Ally's side. "We weren't banging and I'm most definitely fully clothed."

The blonde lowers her hands from her face, eying Austin's jeans and forest green t-shirt. "Oh," she manages in a voice that is equal parts disappointed and relieved. She clears her throat and beams at the two of them. "Anyway. What are you two lovebirds up to tonight?"

The couple share a glance and shrug simultaneously. "Actually, Austin and I didn't have anything planned," Ally answers.

Morgan's beaming grin widens to the point where they can nearly make out all of perfectly straight and white teeth. "So you're free, I take it," she says with a glint in her eye. "The _both _of you?"

"Yes...?" they chorus uncertainly, sneaking a furtive glace at each other.

The glint in her turns feral and she clamps a hand down on either of their shoulders. "So I'll see you bitches at my party tonight, right?!" she gushes excitedly.

Austin stares at the hand on his shoulder, squeezing ever so slightly as if to test the muscles there, and then looks at Ally's horrified expression. "Look, Morgan, we don't think—"

"There'll be booze!" Morgan sing-songs giddily, waggling her eyebrows and winking comically.

"Ally doesn't drink," Austin says, as politely as he can. At the blonde's look of confusion, he rolls his eyes and gestures at Ally with a tilt of his head.

Morgan removes her hands as her posture slumps. "Aw, my baby gazelle," she coos as she shakes her head pityingly at Ally.

(At this, Austin looks over at Ally and mouths '_baby gazelle?'_ questionably. She just gives him a '_not now_' look.)

"It's okay," the busty blonde says, "I'll make you, like, a Jack and Coke without the Jack."

"Isn't that just Coke?" Austin deadpans.

"Austin, you just told me your girlfriend doesn't drink, it would be rude to give her a Jack and Coke with Jack in it."

Austin opens his mouth, about to retort, and decides to just shut it and not further this sure-to-be braincell-burning conversation.

Ally blinks, also choosing to side-step this heated debate about the drink, as she twists her lips into a perplexed smile. "Oh," she finally says. "Um, Morgan, as lovely as that offer is, I don't think Austin and I can make—"

"Aw, c'mon! Betty, Bettilina, Betsy, Bets—can I call ya Bets?"

"I don't see why not," Ally replies wryly.

"It'll be fun!" Morgan urges. "Look, the thing is, everyone on our floor has decided to keep their doors open and it's gonna be one giant, non-stop party! You can float in and out of everyone's apartments and it's gonna be crazy awesome fun!" At Ally's continued hesitance, she paints on a pout. "Aw, Bets, I thought we had, like, a moment this morning. You know the one, in the elevator? Down to the lobby? Not like a lesbian moment, but, like, a _moment_-moment, where we could be friends or whatever, you know?"

Ally bites her lip guiltily. "Um..."

The brunette wants to say no, she really does. Parties are not her thing, never were, and Austin's already mentioned his disinterest in the ones he has previously been invited to. And really, going to a loud party taking up an entire floor with all the crazy tenants in the building in attendance sounds more exhausting than fun.

But Ally's always been a bit of a people pleaser.

"It'd mean a lot to me if the hottest couple in the apartment building could make it," she says with a pleading lilt.

"We'd love to go," Ally finally concedes as her posture slackens with defeat. Austin's facial features rearrange themselves into a look of offended bewilderment and Ally quickly presses her open palm against his face in an attempt to shut him up before he can say something. "I promise we'll be there!" she adds quickly with as honest of a smile as she can muster up.

"Bets, you're the absolute _best!_" Morgan squeals, enveloping the smaller girl into a hug. "See you hotties at eight, okay?" And with a pop of her leg, she skipped off down the hall, toward the elevators.

Austin slowly closes the door to his apartment before rounding on his girlfriend. "Okay. So I have a lot of questions here. Most of them are short, unfinished sentences and some of them aren't much more than baffled noises."

Ally raises an eyebrow. "Well, where do you want to start?" she asks.

"Why? What? _Why?_"

"Three excellent questions," Ally sarcastically points out.

"But seriously," he whines, "why would you say yes?!"

Ally gives him a guilty look. "But—I just—she was—" Her bottom lip wobbles and she bangs her forehead against his chest. "I just felt really bad, okay?!" she cries, and her words come out muffled and defensive.

"You do realize that you're going to a party thrown by someone that doesn't even know your name, right?"

"I don't know; 'Bets' is kind of growing on me."

"It's not too late to bail," he states firmly.

"I don't like breaking promises," she mumbles with her nose pressed into his chest.

"It's not like you pinky-promised her," he tries as he rubs comforting circles on her back.

He feels her head shake back and forth against his chest. "A promise is a promise!" she cries stubbornly. And then her head pops up to look at him with big, pleading eyes. "You'll go though, right? You're coming with me, aren't you?"

Austin throws his hands up and shakes his head. "Oh, no. No way. You got yourself into this party-going mess and now you're going to this party all on your own," he mutters.

She gives him a scandalized look. "You made me go to Jimmy's party!"

"And I canceled on another one tonight to hang out with you!" He rolls his eyes. "I didn't cancel on a party to go to an even _worse_ party."

The scandalized one changes into a heart-melting look. "Aw, you did? That's so sweet," she says sincerely.

"You ruined the sweetness by agreeing to go to that dumb party," he pouts.

She sighs and looks up at him. "You really don't want to go?" He gives her a pointed look and nods understandingly. "I mean—look, Austin, if you don't want to come with me, then fine," she says with a dejected shrug. "I'll just go by myself."

Austin's eyes widen for a fraction of a second before returning to normal, as he looks at her uncertainly. "Your reverse psychology isn't going to work on me," he mumbles suspiciously.

"I'm not trying to trick you with reverse psychology," she insists with a light laugh. His look of suspicion deepens and she bites back a smile."Austin, it's okay," she says softly. "You don't have to go. I'll just head to the party by myself, alright? I'll stop by for a few hours, talk to Morgan for a bit, and then make it back for the countdown with you, huh? How does that sound?" she asks.

He crosses his arms and scowls petulantly. "Like a giant vacuum of _suck_."

"There you go! That's the spirit!" Ally says with mock-cheer as she stands up and kisses him on the cheek. "Okay. Well, I'm going to get ready and then head to Morgan's party." She turns away from him and moves for the door.

"Wait! You're seriously going to go?" he asks incredulously.

She turns and gives him a look over her shoulder. "Um. I kinda told Morgan I would go... so yeah... I'm seriously going to go," she says in a slow, careful manner so he'll understand every word that leaves her mouth.

"You're just gonna go? And leave me here?"

Ally turns around to face him completely. "Austin, you make it sound like you're some wounded animal or neglected child," she says in an amused tone.

"You're just gonna leave me here, to suffer through bleak despair and indescribable loneliness?"

She pats him soothingly on the bicep. "I'll bring back a snack platter, okay? I'm sure there will be plenty of food."

Austin pinches the bridge of his nose, makes a dramatic show of moaning and groaning exaggeratedly, rolling his head back and forth, and even stomping a foot. And then he crosses his arms again and looks her dead in the eye. "I will go. I will not have any fun. I refuse to have any fun, but I will go with you and be your incredibly handsome and utterly attractive arm candy," he says in a low, dead monotone.

Ally opens her mouth, about to make a sarcastic response to his narcissistic comment, but then decides to keep it shut. He _has _just agreed to come to the party with her, no need to tease him into changing his mind. She closes her mouth, takes a steadying breath, and is mindful to let his comment go, just this once.

Besides, she reasons, there will be plenty more opportunities to deflate his ego.

"I, Allison 'withdrawing-my-middle-name-so-you-can-keep-up-that-ridiculous-guessing-game-of-yours' Dawson, hereby accept and agree to those terms," she states solemnly.

They shake on it before Ally breaks out in a beatific smile and Austin pulls her in for a quick kiss to the temple.


	4. Ringing in the New Year

This is a million years late and I'm sorry.

Karen, this one goes out to you because of reasons. (Mostly because I love you and you're seventeen now, you adorable little terror, you.) And Teresa, because you inadvertently started this whole thing way back in Christmas Things.

As always, feedback is a thing of beauty that reminds me to write.

Also, does anyone remember Jerry Springer? No? Goddamn it, how badly did I just age myself?

And sorry if I kind of got carried away with Morgan, she probably won't be making a lot of repeat appearances in the future anyway, so don't worry. Or if you guys like her, tell me! I'll bring her around every so often.

* * *

"Austin Moon! It is just four flights of stairs! For a guy with so many muscles, how on earth are you so out of shape?!" Ally's incredulous, booming voice bounces around the stair case as she frowns down at her boyfriend huffing and puffing his way up the last set of stairs, his heavy, thundering footsteps echoing around the stair well.

Ally had somehow managed to convince Austin to take the stairs to get to Morgan's apartment, on the ninth floor. The four flights of stairs were nothing for Ally, but they were proving to be quite the trek for Austin.

"Shut it, Dawson!" he pants.

"Austin, are you _sweating?_"

"Why the need for your judgey voice?"

"You are so sad right now."

And finally, he trudges up the last three steps, still panting. "Oh God," he grunts painfully, doubling over. "Ow. I think I'm cramping. _Ow_. I think I'm cramping. Ow."

She stares at his hunched over form, an unreadable expression on her face. "I stand corrected. You, right here, right now, are so sad."

"How do your short midget legs walk up and down five flight of stairs every day?" he grouses as he straightens up with a wince, his hand coming up to angrily swipe the sweat and bangs off his forehead. His eyes glance down to her legs—looking long and slender in her clingy dress—and linger appreciatively. "Damn... but you always manage to make them look like they go on for miles and miles," he says, accompanied by a low whistle.

She flushes and swats at his arm. "Austin!" she squeaks. She tugs at the hem a little self-consciously. "It's not too short, is it?" she asks worriedly. It really isn't, as it fell past her fingertips if her arms were at her side.

He shakes his head. "Nah, you look good," he compliments with a wide, appraising smile. "_Really _good."

Ally smiles softly. "Thank you." She straightens his skinny tie and brushes imaginary dust off his shoulders and the lapels of his blazer. "And you look very handsome tonight, Mr. Moon," she murmurs with a sultry smirk.

"Thank you, m'lady," Austin chuckles and leans down to peck her perfectly glossy lips before turning to the door that opened to the eighth floor. They can already hear music pulsing through the walls and occasional shouting or screaming. With a small sigh, he mutters, "Well, let's get this party over with."

She laughs a little. "I'm sure it won't be too bad," she says optimistically.

The blond rolls his eyes but offers her his arm. She happily loops hers through it and they start for the door, him opening it for the both of them. The music hits them full in the face and they wince from the assault on their eardrums. They share a look and a thought—why hadn't they thought to bring ear plugs?—before stepping tentatively into the hallway of the ninth floor.

There are snack tables lined up against the walls, small crowds of people milling near the free food and offered booze, and a constant stream of people moving and waltzing in and out of all the rooms with their doors propped open.

Austin and Ally wave and smile cordially to every familiar face they've seen around within the apartment building. So far, no one from their own floor just yet, but the night is still young. They continue wading carefully through the crowd, doing their best not to bump or run into anyone.

"If any of my crazy groupies are here, do _not _leave me," he orders, his voice low and quiet in her ear. "Do not, I repeat, _do not _leave me." And then he flashes a near manic smile at a young, drunk woman that winks and blows him a kiss. He politely brushes off the imaginary kiss from his shoulder and tries not to gag. "Seriously. Don't leave my side."

"Run away while they paw at you and tear your clothes off, got it!" Ally says brightly with a mock salute.

He gives her a withering glare. "You are usually adorable. Now, however, you are not."

She rolls her eyes. "Okay, fine. I promise not to leave your side," she swears with a small smile. "But let's be honest, if they come at you, it's not like I'd be able to do much," she snickers.

"What, you're not willing to throw down for me?"

Ally gives him a look. "That'd be highly juvenile, immature, and catty," she points out.

"My own girlfriend, refusing to throw down in my honor." Austin shakes his head in mock disappointed as Ally snickers louder at him.

Before she can make a quip, a cheerful shout pierces through the air and the crowd quickly parts for a charging blonde.

"You guys made it!" a voice squeals excitedly right before the couple finds themselves smashed up against a pair of sizable breasts and a mouthful of blonde hair.

"Morgan!" they wheeze pathetically due to the air quickly _whooshing _out of their lungs. "So good to see you," they choke out.

She lets them go and beams at them, eying Ally's dress with surprise and approval. "Lookin' hot, Bets!"

"Yeah, _Bets_," Austin snickers at her, before an elbow to his gut immediately cuts off the snickering.

"Thanks, Morgan," Ally says with a blush. She takes a look at Morgan's short and gold-sequined dress with a pair of matching satin gold heels. "Wow, you look great," Ally marvels, sounding awed.

"Thanks," the blonde preens. "Wanted to ring in the New Year with some sparkle," she laughs as she does a little shake and the lights reflect off all the sequins.

"Mission accomplished," Ally says with a smile.

"Oh!" Morgan suddenly exclaims, as if she's just remembered something. She grabs a Coke can off one of the nearby snack tables lined up against the wall. Handing it to Ally, she brightly says, "Before I forget, here's your Jack and Coke without the Jack."

"Stiiill just a Coke," Austin mutters under his breath as he fights the urge to roll his eyes.

Ally takes it quietly, flashes one of the hosts of the party a quick smile. "Uh, thanks, Morgan."

"You want it on the rocks?" she asks, pointing to a metal container of ice and some empty red solo cups.

The brunette quickly shakes her head and pops the tab open to take a quick sip. "It's fine."

"What can I get the boyfriend?" she asks, jerking a thumb towards the blond.

Austin shakes his head and politely stops her with a hand. "I'm fine. Not drinking."

She pouts. "Ugh! You're so lame! It's not like either of you are DD," she complains with a roll of her eyes. But then she loosens up and shoots them a small smile. "But it's still totally cool that you guys came," she says. "I mean, I know I kept hitting on you, Austin—and for some crazy reason, you completely refused to tap my totally fine ass, and I seriously thought you were going all, like, George Michael—"

"Totally straight, definitely not _Wham-_ing it up, I'm afraid," Austin deadpans.

"—and as much as it weirds me out that you're so hot and Bets is in desperate need of a make-over—no offense, hon—"

"None taken," Ally says lightly, with an amused air.

"—you two do make an annoyingly adorable couple. Plus, the height difference is super hot," she says with a wicked smirk and waggle of her eyebrows.

Ally flames red-hot and Austin shoots her his own devilish smirk, clearly agreeing with Morgan.

"So anyway, can we start over? I want us to be friends and stuff." And then she gasps, her jaw dropping open and her eyes widen to show the whites. "Oh my God, Bets, you should totally let me give you a make-over!"

"As lovely as that sounds, Morgan, uh, how about one step at a time?" Ally suggests with a wince.

"So friends?" the blonde asks hopefully.

Ally laughs and nods. "Friends," she says with promise.

After another bone-crushing hug and a quick good bye, Morgan weaves through the crowd and says she's gotta go play Martha Stewart.

"Scariest Martha Stewart I've ever seen," Austin mutters in Ally's ear. He raises an eyebrow at her. "Your conversation with her this morning half as terrifying?"

"Even more so; thought she was gonna kill me at first."

He gives her an odd look. "You think _everyone's _going to kill you at first," he jokes, recalling back to the time they chopped down her Christmas tree.

She bristles at the comment. "Hey, you were a near-complete stranger holding an ax, leading me to a deserted park, alright? I was well within the bounds to fear for my general safety!"

Austin gives her a calculating look. "It was the dead hooker joke, wasn't it?"

"They're not exactly tasteful, nor are they comforting."

Austin rolls his eyes. "Gotcha, no more dead hooker jokes," he promises. "Scout's honor," he says solemnly, holding up a hand.

She snorts, leading him through the crowd again. "Please. Like you were ever a boy scout," she says, looking up him knowingly.

"Okay," he sighs guiltily. "You caught me."

* * *

"I feel gross."

"Why? Because that's the fourth person that's winked at you all night?"

"He was the sixth," Austin mutters darkly.

Ally turns to look at him thoughtfully. "Wait, who were the two that I missed?"

He looks offended. "Why are you keeping a tally?" he demands. His eyes narrow and he growls, "You think this is funny, don't you?"

She giggles a little. "Kind of, yeah."

Austin rolls his eyes and starts ticking off on his fingers. "Stacy, Val from the sixth floor, Thomas from the lobby—flattered, but we both know I don't swing that way, that random redhead—"

"I didn't count her," Ally interrupts. "I thought it was a nerve thing."

His brow furrows. "Really?" he sounds skeptically.

Ally gives him a look. "I mean, she's been trying awfully hard to seduce that snack table, then."

From their spot at the quieter end of the hall—where they had taken refuge and were leaning against the wall with plates of food in hand—Austin stands on his toes and searches through the crowd for said redhead. After some squinting and searching, he finds her. Sure enough, her right eye blinks and opens in the general direction of a snack table, her face blank and expressionless.

"Huh. Okay, fair enough," Austin says with a shrug before resuming count. "So, then there was that guy that lives down the hall that kept trying to get us to come into his apartment. Again, flattered, but I don't swing that way. And the fifth person was that blonde woman in the hot pink dress." Ally nibbles on her bottom lip but he can still clearly see the grin threatening to break free. After another moment, he rolls his eyes at her poorly suppressed giggle-snort. "I'm glad you're so thoroughly amused by your boyfriend getting flirtatious winks all night," he comments dryly.

"Hey. They can look—and even send the occasional wink—but they can't touch," she says smartly.

He raises an eyebrow. "Glad to know there's a line somewhere," he mumbles sullenly.

The corners of her lips turn upward. "Well, it's not like I'm worried that you'll run off with any of them," she admits with a shrug.

Austin sniffs disdainfully. "You don't know that," he pouts.

"Oh, but I do," she says knowingly. "You get this look on your face, like this—" and she breaks off to contort her features into what he thinks is supposed to be an imitation of him.

"Horrified because someone secretly poured sand into my pancakes?"

"Well, kind of," she says as she relaxes her face. "Mostly, you look like you don't know whether to be confused or annoyed."

"It's both," he states flatly. "I'm confused because _why me?_ And I'm annoyed because I'm clearly w_ith my girlfriend_ and that's just rude," he mutters irritably. "The horror factors in because some of these people are usually crazy."

Ally sends him a sympathetic look. "Okay. I'm sorry," she murmurs as she reaches out and pats his arm soothingly. "I won't make fun of you anymore," she promises.

He narrows an eye at her in a calculating manner. "How sorry are you?" he asks slowly.

She eyes his empty plate and sighs resignedly. "Oh, alright. I'll get you another plate of those little smokies you like," she says with a roll of her eyes as she holds out her hand impatiently.

He frowns at her. "Don't do it with an attitude. You'll ruin the taste of the smokies."

Ally gives him an odd look. "Austin, that doesn't even make sense." At his pout, she stops mid-eyeroll and plasters on a cheery grin. "Hey, honey, would you like some more smokies? I know they're your favorite!" she cries with fake, enthused glee.

He snickers at her but hands over the plate. "Oh! Can you also get some of those little cucumber sandwiches?" he asks excitedly, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

This time, Ally's smile is genuine as she nods, finding her boyfriend's fascination with the little finger sandwiches oddly adorable. "Yeah, yeah. Just give me a moment," she laughs over her shoulder as she makes her way through the crowd.

There's a different spread on each snack table, with the sandwiches on the second table she walks by and the smokies being all the way at the opposite end. She's guiltily scooping up the last of the smokies when she suddenly hears a commotion toward Austin's end of the hall. She frowns and places the tongs back on the table, straining her neck in an attempt to see what's going on.

"What the…?"

Then there's shouting and screaming, someone yelling out, "_CAT FIGHT,_" and all hell breaks loose.

Ally's eyes widen and she practically throws the plate on the table in her haste to join the crowd rapidly running in the direction of the cat fight. These people might be interested in a fight, but she just wants to find Austin and get the hell out of there.

She tries to keep up with the boisterous crowd, but there's chaos everywhere and she keeps getting pushed and shoved in different directions. She flinches as someone jostles her shoulder pretty roughly but continues to move through the crowd, gritting her teeth in frustration. Her small stature is of some help though, and she's about to dart in between the masses a lot faster than some of her bigger peers.

She's more than halfway down the hall—having just ducked under another the arm of a burly guy—when suddenly, a hand latches onto her forearm and she yelps in fright.

"Ally? Ally, relax! It's just me!" Austin says, practically shouting so she can hear him over the yelling and thundering footsteps of the crowd.

"Oh, thank God." She relaxes and clings to him as people continue rushing around them. "Austin, what happened?" she asks, brow furrowing with worry. She winces when someone running by clips her on the same shoulder again. "Ow," she hisses as she reaches up to rub the injured area.

Austin frowns and quickly maneuvers their bodies so that her back is against the wall. He moves closer to box her in and better protect her from the crowd. "Is that better?" he asks.

She looks up gratefully and nods. "Yeah, thanks."

He's about to reply when another hit and run occurs and his body lurches forward. He quickly catches himself with a forearm braced against the wall and a hand grabbing Ally's hip. "Dammit," he mutters irritably, throwing a belated glare over his shoulder. He sighs and turns back to Ally. "Sorry." Their bodies are flush against each other and he can't help but send her a smirk after he glances down to see where their bodies meet. "But, uh, can't say I'm complaining," he says with a throaty chuckle.

She blushes but rolls her eyes and although she wants to smack him half-heartedly in the chest, she realizes that there's not enough room. He's just lucky he's her boyfriend, especially when his fingers flex deftly around her hip, nearly making her shiver from the contact. But she shakes her head to clear her thoughts. "Austin, focus. Is there really a cat fight?" When he gives an affirmative nod, she frowns and asks, "What on earth could have caused it?"

And with a sheepish wince, Austin lets loose a nervous laugh. "Uh, ha ha, about that…" he trails off, clearing his throat.

Her jaw drops. "Oh my God. Did you start this?" she sputters.

He gives her a pained expression. "I didn't mean to!" he cries defensively.

"Austin! I leave you alone for _one _minute to get you some smokies and those little cucumber sandwiches and—"

"Where are those, by the way?"

"—you end up starting a c_at fight?_" she shouts in disbelief. "What did you _do?_" She's not even sure if she's pissed or upset, she just can't believe that her boyfriend has started an honest-to-God cat fight.

Austin looks at her with pleading eyes. "Ally, c'mon, I didn't—"

But it doesn't matter because he's suddenly knocked away from her, a shout of surprise escaping from his mouth.

"Austin!" Ally shrieks, reaching out and grabbing hold of his arm.

"Whoa!" He's off-balance and comes dangerously close to falling over but with one harsh tug from Ally, he finds himself coming toward her and the wall, so he reaches out catch his weight before he can crush her. "Thanks," he rasps. He looks behind him to see what had nearly ran him over and his jaw drops to see that the two girls in the fight had migrated behind them.

"Oh my God," he whispers, eyes widening and he quickly jumps out of the way, pulling Ally with him.

Ally gasps, and her hands fly to her mouth as she takes in the scene in front of her. Austin immediately holds out an arm protectively, shielding her from the chaos with most of his body.

"Do you think we should stop them?" she asks meekly as she worries her bottom lip.

Austin turns to give her a dry look. "You wanna jump in? Because I'm kind of afraid they'll just rip off my clothes and try to initiate the scariest threesome ever."

She wrinkles her nose at his crude comment. "Ew."

"Yes, Ally. 'Ew.' Incredibly 'ew'," he mutters as he watches the two girls continue wrestling. There's a lot of grunting and hair-pulling, he notes.

But then Morgan is on the scene, teetering down in her sky high heels, all gold sequins and indignant fury as she yells at the girls to cut it out. "God_damm_it, girls! This isn't Jerry _fucking_ Springer, you classless bitches! Will you two cut it out already?"

They ignore her and continue grunting and shoving and wrestling with each other, shouts of _He's mine!_, _Back off, bitch!_, and _Those extensions were _expensive!ringing though the air, punctuated with cheers and taunts from the crowd.

She whirls around to face Austin, murder in her eyes. "You did this! Stop it!"

His jaw drops and he gapes at her. "I didn't do anything!" he protests defensively.

Morgan gestures at him wildly. "Control your face!"

Now he just looks offended. "Excuse me?"

Morgan throws her arms up into the air. "Stop sending out pheromones! Put a bag over your face! Black out some teeth with a marker! I don't _fucking _care! But for the love of my New Year's Party and those designer dresses on these dumb bitches, would you stop being so hot and _learn how to control your goddamn face?_"

He stares at her, bewildered.

Morgan turns to Ally and shakes her head. "Curse your beautiful boyfriend." And then she lets out an aggravated groan and grabs the nearest Coke off the table. "Hope you ladies have club soda at home," she mutters as she douses them with the drink, aiming for their clothes and hair as much as she can.

The two girls rolling around on the ground scream and sputter profusely.

Morgan empties the can and reaches for another, opening the tab when one of the girls holds out an arm and shouts, "No! Okay, okay, we'll stop!"

She crosses her arms, the weaponized can of Coke still in hand. She narrows her eyes threateningly and turns to the silently fuming and drenched blonde. "Well? Your friend seems to have given up, how about you?" she asks condescendingly as she taps an impatient foot.

She silently runs her tongue over her teeth and flips her wet hair over a shoulder. "Fine," she grumbles. "Whatever."

Morgan rolls her eyes and sets the can back on the table, before turning back to the crowd. "Either go back to the party or go _home_, you sick fucks! This isn't entertainment!" she bellows.

Wide-eyed, the suddenly shushed audiences turn and shuffle off to the snack tables and open apartments.

With that settled, she turns back to the two petulant girls sitting in a heap on the ground. "Do you harpies even realize that the dude is t_aken?! _And that his girlfriend is, like, _way _adorable? Unlike you two pathetic, disillusioned, horny-ass idiots that _embarrassed_ yourselves and_ ruined_ my party!"

The girls gasp and turn to Austin with accusatory glares. "You're s_eeing _someone?" one of them gasps as the other overlaps her with, "I didn't think it was _serious!_"

Ally _eeps!_ and shrinks even further behind Austin.

"See?" Morgan yells, pointing at Ally. "Freakin' _adorable_."

Austin runs a hand over his face in aggravation. "Yes! I'm seeing someone! Her name is _Ally_ and if you so much as _touch _her, I'll—oh shit," he deflates, realizing that he can't do much since, well, they're girls. And he may believe in equality and shit but hitting girls is _fucked up_. Plus, his mom totally raised him better than that.

"Send _me _after your asses," Morgan hisses, stepping forth.

The two girls immediately pale and swallow nervously. "Morgan, that's—"

"We stopped being friends when you two were dumb enough to go after another girl's man," she growls. "That shit is _low_, and you two know better." She points at the exit. "Now get the hell out of my party."

The three of them watch as the two girls get up, falling over each other and themselves, as they scramble for the exit.

After the door shuts closed behind them, Morgan turns to the couple and rubs her forehead tiredly. "Every year. Every _fucking _year, there's a fight," she grumbles with an annoyed shrug. And then she pulls Ally out from under Austin's arm and looks at her. "Are you okay?"

Ally nods and sends her a shaky smile. "Thanks, Morgan."

She sends her a wry smile. "See? Told you there would be desperate hos and crazy bitches," she sighs, sounding resigned, not smug.

Ally gives a small, dry chuckle and shakes her head. "I was sort of hoping I'd have more time to prepare myself for them, I guess."

Morgan gives her a sympathetic look and then turns to Austin, gesturing out the door. "Why don't you take her home and the both of you can ring in the New Year quietly? I think you've both had enough excitement for one night."

Austin blinks rapidly, surprised by her thoughtfulness. "Really? You sure? The party seems like it's getting back to normal," he says as he jerks a thumb over his shoulder.

Morgan rolls her eyes. "Please. You think I didn't notice the two of you hiding out in a corner all night?" she scoffs as she sizes them up with a pointed look.

Their gazes skitter away in embarrassed guilt.

She laughs and with a dirty smirk, points out, "Hey, at least I didn't catch you two in a closet or anything; caught my third couple about ten minutes before the fight. You two are annoyingly scandal-free." She wrinkles her nose. "Well, except for Austin's face starting a fight."

"It is a curse," he deadpans.

Morgan sighs and pats his cheek patronizingly. "Oh, baby, I'm sure it is." Ally giggles and she shoots the shorter brunette a grin before her hand falls away. "Now go home and do gross coupley stuff like play checkers or eat pudding or whatever," she orders with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Austin gives an amused snort and shakes his head. "Okay. We'll go home and eat some pudding, then," he says drolly.

She pulls Ally into a big hug, rocking their bodies side to side. "Well, thanks for making it even if you two were totally lame and hid out in a corner all night," she sighs. But when they pull apart, she grins at the couple.

"We, uh, we had fun," Ally attempts politely.

Morgan snorts. "Liar. This so isn't your scene, is it?"

Ally shakes her head in a pained and relieved expression. "It really isn't."

"Well, you came anyway and that's the important part," the blonde laughs and shrugs. "Anyway, I'm gonna go talk some poor loser into getting out that Coke stain in the carpet," she sighs as she gestures to the area where she previously doused the girls. "Bye, guys!" she says with a wave as she sashays away.

As they watch her retreating back, Austin sighs. "She still thinks your name is Bets, doesn't she?"

"Totally."

* * *

"Okay," Ally starts, whirling around the second she's closed the door to his apartment. "What the heck happened?"

Austin groans and slouches off to the couch to sit down. "I don't even know," he says as he rubs a hand over his eyes. But he waits until she has joined him on the couch before retelling the events. "You were gone, I'm waiting for my delicious smokies—which I never got, by the way—and then one of them came up and asked if I wanted a drink. I said no and then the other girl came up to me and asked the _same question_ but I also said no."

"And then?" she presses.

He shrugs. "Then the first one starts acting all smug, like, 'Oh, he's not interested in you, either!' and I tried to calm them down but the other girl was kind of drunk and she just sort of… _lunged_."

Ally wrinkles her nose. "That's it?"

"I told you I didn't do anything," he scoffs, sounding a little hurt.

"I'm sorry. I honestly didn't think you did anything to initiate the fight, though," she sighs. "I just wanted to know what happened."

"I was just afraid you thought I was leading them on or something."

She frowns, feeling guilty. "I wasn't trying to imply that I thought that," she says, sending him an apologetic glance.

Austin pulls her close and kisses the top of her hair. "It's alright," he whispers as she settles her head against his shoulder.

"I still feel bad," she says, looking up at him.

He looks down at her, perplexed. "I started a cat fight today. I think I'm feeling worse than you."

She chuckles. "What? It didn't do wonders for your ego?" she jokes.

"Doesn't mean anything if I've got a lady to call my own," he says with a shrug.

She smacks a hand to her forehead, giggling at his words. "I'm telling you, Austin, I'm not getting into any fights over you," she laughs.

"Shh," he murmurs in her ear, his breath tickling her. "Let a guy dream." He stares at her with the most tender look he can muster and in the most loving voice he says, "I'd beat the shit out of some guy for _you_."

"Romantic," Ally says dryly as she stares at him, unimpressed.

"Baby, I know," he whispers with waggling eyebrows before nuzzling her nose with his, making her erupt in bright laughter after he pulls away with a grin.

She hums in contentment and glances at the clock. "So we have less than an hour before the New Year, what do you want to do?"

He shrugs. "Go-Gurt and YouTube videos of cute baby animals?"

Ally lights up at the prospect of making Austin watch her favorite otter video for the umpteenth time. "It's like you read my mind," she sighs happily.

He groans. "But my laptop is in my room." He makes feeble grabby motions toward the hallway. "Argh," he grunts pathetically, "so… far… away."

She frowns. "Well, one of us has to get up and grab it."

"Why can't that someone be you? You gotta take initiative sometimes, Ally," he says arrogantly.

Her eyes narrow and she holds out a fist. "Rock, paper, scissors," she orders, sitting up and squaring her shoulders.

Austin follows suit, his spine shooting straight up in challenge. "Oh, you're on."

Moments later, Austin finds himself shuffling off in the direction of his room in dejection.

"Pull up the otter video!" she calls after him.

He waves her off dismissively, but hides a grin to himself; he's had that page bookmarked for her ages ago.

* * *

"So, you got any New Year's resolutions?" Austin asks as he stares down at her curiously. There's a half-smile on his face as he waits for her answer.

They'd gotten bored after the YouTube videos a while ago and were pretty much spending their time cuddling on the couch and talking. With only a few minutes left of the current year, Austin felt like the question was appropriate.

Ally shrugs. "Oh, I don't know," she admits in a low hum. "I'm pretty happy with where I'm at in my life right now so I didn't really think about it this year."

"Really?" He sounds surprised. "No offense, but you totally seem like the goal-setting, resolution-making type of girl," he says as he looks at her thoughtfully.

Ally shoots him a sheepish look. "Well, I used to come up with them all the time and I'd even set monthly and quarterly goals to achieve," she confesses. At the triumphant '_Aha!_' on his face, she rolls her eyes before continuing. "But then I finished college and now I co-own Sonic Boom with my dad and I live in a nice, but affordable, apartment, so... I'm pretty happy," she explains.

"And now you've got a man, too," he adds with a waggle of his eyebrows.

She laughs and nudges him playfully. "I'm basically set for the new year," she says with a short nod. "A career, a good job, even a boyfriend!" He smiles cockily at her and she adds with a heavy sigh, "Too bad he's just alright."

"Ouch."

She giggles and bumps his shoulder with her own. "What about you?" she murmurs. "Have you got a New Year's resolution, hm?"

Austin snorts derisively. "Why would somebody as awesome as me make a New Year's resolution? I don't need to improve on anything."

"You're absolutely right," Ally deadpans. "There's nothing that you should consider working on, especially not your ego. It's already at the right amount of '_massive_'."

He chuckles and tugs on a lock of her hair. "Oh, c'mon, I'm just kidding," he says with a lopsided grin, now winding that same lock of hair around a finger. "My New Year's resolution is to save more orphan puppies, obviously."

Ally bats her eyelashes and sighs dreamily. "My, that's oh so noble of you," she coos. And then she pokes him in the arm. "But really. You don't have one?"

He shrugs noncommittally. "I've never really made them," he confesses. "Sometimes, I try to cut back on pancakes but it just never works." Ally giggles at that and he turns to her. "But you should make one," he says with a small bump to her shoulder. "Since, you know, you used to make them all the time."

She tilts her head to the side and gives him a considering look. "Well, you got any ideas for me?" she asks. "Any comments or suggestions?"

Austin purses his lips in thought before answering. "Yeah, a few."

She eyes the clock on the wall and turns to him. "You've got about ten seconds. Lay them on me," she says quickly with a curious grin.

"Okay, you ready? You think you can take some constructive criticism?"

"Nine." Her eyebrows knit together worriedly. "Of course," she says softly.

"Well," he starts in a slow, careful voice, "you never yell."

"Eight."

"You never start fights."

"Seven."

"And you're way too pretty. Like, all the time. It's beyond ridiculous."

"Six." She quirks an eyebrow at him. "Really? That's it?" She's fighting a losing battle to keep the smile off her face.

He nods somberly. "They're all serious problems, Ally."

"Five. Are they?"

"Oh yeah. You should definitely work on them."

"Four." She grins at him. "I'll definitely make an effort to," she says quietly.

Austin smirks and brushes some hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear gently. "Good." His hands come up to cup her face and he stares at her with a mock-serious look. "So you got your New Year's resolution, then?"

"Three." She nods. "I think so."

Austin stares the clock and resumes the countdown for them. "Go ahead."

"Two. Must yell more, must start fights, mustn't be too pretty all the time because it's beyond ridiculous," she murmurs jokingly with a slow, warm smile.

"Sounds perfect," he whispers, leaning in towards her as their eyes start to slide closed.

"One," she whispers, her breath hitting Austin's lips right before he closes the distance between them, his lips slanting over hers in a slow, tantalizing kiss that makes her knees go weak.


End file.
